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Top Story  Few weeks after witnessing record profits, steel producers are facing the heat of global economic melt down with cancellation of orders, cuts in production, and layoffs.
The present credit crisis and global economic slowdown have affected customers in top three key markets for steel industry — construction, automobiles and industrial equipment.
In North America, badly hit construction market consumes about 40 percent of steel, while 20 percent of demand comes automakers and another 20 percent from industrial equipment makers – both hardly hit by current economic turmoil.
"The downturn has been dramatic, both in the speed and the magnitude," said Christopher Plummer, managing director of Metal Strategies Inc., a consulting firm in West Chester, Pa. "It's quite concerning and alarming.", as quoted by Associated Press.
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