
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 7, 1995                   TAG: 9502070084
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BRIEFLY

VF Corp., Wyomissing, Pa., parent of Bassett-Walker Inc. of Martinsville, said Monday it has joined Paragon, the parent company of Promociones Lee, licensee of the Lee brand in Mexico, to form Grupo Lee de Mexico, a joint venture that will manufacture and market Lee products primarily for the Mexican market.

USAfrica Airways abruptly suspended all service, stranding hundreds of passengers and placing in question the future of the only U.S. airline flying to South Africa, its president, Gregory S. Lewis said Monday. The airline failed to meet a flight schedule Friday night because it could not pay rent on two planes it leased from American Airlines. A loan the company was counting on to make its payments was not approved, Lewis said. It was the third such loan the airline has sought.

U.S. coal production totaled 21.3 million tons in the week ending Jan. 28, down 3 percent from 21.9 million tons the previous week, the U.S. Department of Energy reported Monday. The U.S. coal industry produced 20.5 million tons in the same week last year. Virginia mines produced 893,000 tons that week, down from 961,000 tons the prior week and 751,000 tons a year earlier. Domestic coal production so far this year is about 83 million tons, 16 percent ahead of last year's production at this time.

by CNB