INTRODUCTION

The United States Steel Corporation more commonly known as U.S. Steel is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States, Canada, and Central Europe. The company was the world's 13th largest steel producer in 2010. It was renamed USX Corporation in 1986 and back to United States Steel Corporation in 2001 when the shareholders of USX spun off the oil & gas business of Marathon Oil and the steel business of U. S. Steel to shareholders. In 2001 it was still the largest domestically owned integrated steel producer in the United States, although it produced only slightly more steel than it did in 1902, after significant downsizing in the 1980s.
U.S. Steel is a former Dow Jones Industrial Average component, listed from April 1, 1901 to May 3, 1991. It was removed under its USX Corporation name with Navistar International and Primerica.

Formation

J. P. Morgan and the attorney Elbert H. Gary founded U.S. Steel in 1901 (incorporated on February 25) by combining Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Company with Gary's Federal Steel Company and William Henry "Judge" Moore's National Steel Company for $492 million ($13.58 billion today). It was capitalized at $1.4 billion ($38.63 billion today), making it the world's first billion-dollar corporation. At one time, U.S. Steel was the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world. In 1907 it bought its largest competitor, the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, which was headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. This led to Tennessee Coal's being replaced in the Dow Jones Industrial Average by the General Electric Company. The federal government attempted to use federal antitrust laws to break up U.S. Steel in 1911, but that effort ultimately failed. Time and competitors have, however, accomplished nearly the same thing. In its first full year of operation, U.S. Steel made 67 percent of all the steel produced in the United States. It now produces less than 10 percent.
The Corporation, as it was known on Wall Street, always distinguished itself to investors by virtue of its size, rather than for its efficiency or creativeness during its heyday. In 1901, it controlled two-thirds of steel production. Because of heavy debts taken on at the company's formation — Carnegie insisted on being paid in gold bonds for his stake — and fears of antitrust litigation, U.S. Steel moved cautiously. Competitors often innovated faster, especially Bethlehem Steel, run by U.S. Steel's former first president, Charles M. Schwab. U.S. Steel's share of the expanding market slipped to 50 percent by 1911.

Mid Century

U.S. Steel ranked 16th among United States corporations in the value of World War II production contracts. Production peaked at more than 35 million tons in 1953. Its employment was greatest in 1943 when it had more than 340,000 employees; by 2000, however, it employed 52,500 people. The federal government has also intervened on other occasions to try to control U.S. Steel. President Harry S. Truman attempted to take over its steel mills in 1952 to resolve a crisis with its union, the United Steelworkers of America. The Supreme Court blocked the takeover by ruling that the president did not have the constitutional authority to seize the mills, 343 U.S. 579 (1952)). President John F. Kennedy was more successful in 1962 when he pressured the steel industry into reversing price increases that Kennedy considered dangerously inflationary.

Evolution to USX

The federal government prevented U.S. Steel from acquiring National Steel in 1984 and political pressure from the United States Congress as well as the United Steelworkers (USW) forced the company to abandon plans to import British Steel slabs. US Steel finally acquired National Steel's assets in 2003 after National Steel went bankrupt. U.S. Steel acquired Marathon Oil on January 7, 1982, as well as Texas Oil & Gas several years later. It reorganized its holdings as USX Corporation in 1986, with U.S. Steel (renamed USS, Inc.,) as a major subsidiary.
Corporate Raider Carl Icahn launched a hostile takeover of the steel giant in late 1986 and proceeded to have proxy battles with shareholders and management until abandoning all efforts to buy the company out on January 8, 1987.

Modern era

At the end of the 20th century, the corporation found itself deriving much of its revenue and net income from its energy operations, so led by CEO Thomas Usher, U.S. Steel spun off Marathon and other non-steel assets (except railroad company Transtar) in October, 2001, and expanded internationally for the first time by purchasing operations in Slovakia and Serbia.
In the early 2010s U.S. Steel has invested "hundreds of millions" to upgrade software programs throughout their manufacturing facilities.

Labor
U.S. Steel maintained the labor policies of Andrew Carnegie, which called for low wages and opposition to unionization. The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers union that represented workers at the Homestead, Pennsylvania, plant was, for many years, broken after a violent strike in 1892. U.S. Steel defeated another strike in 1901, the year it was founded. U.S. Steel built the city of Gary, Indiana in 1906, and 100 years later it remained the location of the largest integrated steel mill in the Northern Hemisphere. U.S. Steel reached a détente with unions during World War I, when under pressure from the Wilson Administration it relaxed its opposition to unions enough to allow some to operate in certain factories. It returned to its previous policies as soon as the war ended, however, and in a 1919 strike defeated union-organizing efforts by William Z. Foster of the AFL, later a leader of the Communist Party USA.
During the 1920s, U.S. Steel, like many other large employers, coupled paternalistic employment practices with "employee representation plans" (ERPs), which were company unions sponsored by management. These ERPs eventually became an important factor leading to the organization of the United Steelworkers of America. The Company dropped its hard-line, anti-union stance in 1937, when Myron Taylor, then president of U.S. Steel, agreed to recognize the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, an arm of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) led by John L. Lewis. Taylor was an outsider, brought in during the Great Depression to rescue U.S. Steel, and had no emotional investment in the Company's long history of opposition to unions. Watching the upheaval caused by the United Auto Workers' successful sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, and convinced that Lewis was someone he could deal with on a businesslike basis, Taylor sought stability through collective bargaining.
The Steelworkers continue to have a contentious relationship with U.S. Steel, but far less so than the relationship that other unions had with employers in other industries in the United States. They launched a number of long strikes against U.S. Steel in 1946 and a 116-day strike in 1959, but those strikes were over wages and benefits and not the more fundamental issue of union recognition that led to violent strikes elsewhere.
The Steelworkers union attempted to mollify the problems of competitive foreign imports by entering into a so-called Experimental Negotiation Agreement (ENA) in 1974. This was to provide for arbitration in the event that the parties were not able to reach agreement on any new collective bargaining agreements, thereby preventing disruptive strikes. The ENA failed to stop the decline of the steel industry in the U.S.
U.S. Steel and the other employers terminated the ENA in 1984. In 1986, U.S. Steel locked out thousands of its employees when it shut down a number of its facilities as a result of a drop in orders on the eve of a threatened strike. In addition, U.S. Steel and other steel producers demanded extensive concessions from their employees in the early 1980s through the direction of J. Bruce Johnston, U.S. Steel executive vice president. In a letter to striking employees in 1986, Johnston warned, "There are not enough seats in the steel lifeboat for everybody. In addition to reducing the role of unions, the steel industry had sought to induce the federal government to take action to counteract dumping of steel by foreign producers at below-market prices. Neither the concessions nor anti-dumping laws have restored the industry to the health and prestige it once had.

Environmental record

Between October 26 and October 31, 1948 an air inversion trapped industrial effluent (air pollution) from the American Steel and Wire plant and U.S. Steel's Donora Zinc Works in Donora, Pennsylvania. "In three days, 20 people died... After the inversion lifted, another 50 died, including Lukasz Musial, the father of baseball great Stan Musial. Hundreds more finished the rest of their lives with damaged lungs and hearts. But another 40 years would pass before the whole truth about Donora's bad air made public-health history. Today the town is home to the Donora Smog Museum which tells the impact of the Donora Smog on the air quality standards enacted by the federal government in subsequent years.
Researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute have ranked U.S. Steel as the eighth-greatest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States (down from their 2000 ranking as the second-greatest). In 2008, the company released more than one million kg (2.2 million pounds) of toxins, chiefly ammonia, hydrochloric acid, ethylene, zinc compounds, methanol, and benzene, but including manganese, cyanide, and chromium compounds. In 2004, the city of River Rouge, Michigan and the residents of River Rouge and the nearby city of Ecorse filed a class-action lawsuit against the company for "the release and discharge of air particulate matter...and other toxic and hazardous substances at its River Rouge plant.In 2005, the Illinois Attorney General brought suit against U.S. Steel for alleged air pollution in Granite City, Illinois.
The Company has also been implicated in generating water pollution and toxic waste. In 1993, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an order for U.S. Steel to clean up a site in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, on the Delaware River, where the soil had been contaminated with arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals, as well as naphthalene; groundwater at the site was found to be polluted with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and trichloroethylene (TCE).In 2005, the EPA, United States Department of Justice, and the State of Ohio reached a settlement requiring U.S. Steel to pay more than $100,000 in penalties and $294,000 in reparations in answer to allegations that the company illegally released pollutants into Ohio waters. U.S. Steel's Gary, Indiana facility has been repeatedly charged with discharging polluted wastewater into Lake Michigan and the Grand Calumet River, and in 1998 agreed to a $30 million settlement to clean up contaminated sediments from a five-mile (8 km) stretch of the river.
It should be noted, however, that with the exception of the Fairless Hills and Gary facilities, the lawsuits concern facilities acquired via U.S. Steel's purchase of National Steel Corporation in 2003.
Legacy
The U.S. Steel Tower in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is named after the company and the company's offices take up a part of the building. It is the tallest skyscraper in the downtown Pittsburgh skyline.
When the Steelmark logo was created, U.S. Steel attached the following meaning to it: "Steel lightens your work, brightens your leisure and widens your world. The logo was used as part of a major marketing campaign to educate consumers about how important steel is in people's daily lives. The Steelmark logo was used in print, radio and television ads as well as on labels for all steel products, from steel tanks to tricycles to filing cabinets.
In the 1960s, U.S. Steel turned over the Steelmark program to the AISI, where it came to represent the steel industry as a whole. During the 1970s, the logo's meaning was extended to include the three materials used to produce steel: yellow for coal, orange for ore and blue for steel scrap. In the late 1980s, when the AISI founded the Steel Recycling Institute (SRI), the logo took on a new life reminiscent of its 1950s meaning.
The Pittsburgh Steelers professional football team borrowed elements of its logo, a circle containing three hypocycloids, from the Steelmark logo belonging to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and created by U.S. Steel. In the 1950s, when helmet logos became popular, the Steelers added players' numbers to either side of their gold helmets. Later that decade, the numbers were removed and in 1962, Cleveland's Republic Steel suggested to the Steelers that they use the Steelmark as a helmet logo.
U.S. Steel financed and constructed the Unisphere in Corona Park, Queens, New York for the 1964 World's Fair. It is the largest globe ever made and is one of the world's largest free standing sculptures.
The Chicago Picasso sculpture was fabricated by U.S. Steel in Gary, Indiana, before being disassembled and relocated to Chicago. U.S. Steel donated the steel for the Polish Cathedral of St. Michael's in Chicago since 90 percent of the parishioners worked at its mills.
U.S. Steel sponsored The United States Steel Hour television program from 1945 until 1963 on CBS.U.S. Steel built both the Disney's Contemporary Resort and the Disney's Polynesian Resort in 1971 at Walt Disney World, in part to showcase its residential steel building "modular" residential products to high-end and luxury consumers.
In the film The Godfather Part II, Hyman Roth tells Michael Corleone, "Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel". The statement was a paraphrase of longtime Mob kingpin Meyer Lansky.
Dividends
It is the present policy of the Board of Directors to consider the declaration of dividends four times each year, with checks for dividends declared on common stock mailed for receipt on the 10th of March, June, September and December. The dividend as of 2008 was $0.30 per share. On Apr. 27, 2009, it was reduced to $0.05 per share. Dividends may be paid by mailed check, direct electronic deposit into a bank account, or be reinvested in additional shares of U.S. Steel common stock.
Facilities
U.S. Steel has multiple domestic and international facilities. Of note in the United States is Clairton Works and Edgar Thomson Works, both members of Mon Valley Works and just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Clairton Works is the largest coking facility in North America. Edgar Thomson Works is one of the oldest steel mills in the world. The Company acquired Great Lakes Works and Granite City Works, both large integrated steel mills, in 2003 and is partnered with Severstal North America in operating the world's largest electro-galvanizing line, Double Eagle Steel Coating Company, at the historic Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan.
U.S. Steel's largest domestic facility is Gary Works, in Gary, Indiana; Gary is also home to the U.S. Steel Yard baseball stadium.
U.S. Steel operates a tin mill they acquired in East Chicago now known as E.C. Tin after L.T.V. went bankrupt. U.S. Steel operates a sheet and tin finishing facility in Portage, Indiana. known as Midwest Plant acquired from the National Steel bankruptcy. U.S. Steel operates Fairfield Works in Fairfield, Alabama (Birmingham), employing 1500 people, and still operates a sheet galvanizing operation at the Fairless Works facility in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, employing 75 people.
U.S. Steel acquired National Steel and subsequently operates Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Michigan, Midwest Plant in Portage, Indiana, and Granite City Steel in Granite City, Illinois. In 2008 a major expansion of Granite City was announced, including a new coke plant with an annual capacity of 650,000 tons.
U.S. Steel operates five pipe mills: Fairfield Tubular Operations in Fairfield, Alabama (Birmingham), Lorain Tubular Operations in Lorain, Ohio, McKeesport Tubular Operations, in McKeesport, PA, Texas Operations (Formerly Lone Star Steel) in Lone Star, TX, and Bellville Operations in Bellville, TX.
U.S. Steel operates two major taconite mining and pelletizing operations in northeastern Minnesota's Iron Range under the operating name Minnesota Ore Operations. The Minntac mine is located near Mountain Iron, Minnesota and the Keetac mine is near Keewatin, Minnesota. U.S. Steel announced on February 1, 2008 that it would be investing approximately $300 Million in upgrading the operations at Keetac, a facility purchased in 2003 from the now-defunct National Steel Corporation.
U.S. Steel has completely closed two of its major integrated mills. The Duluth Works in Duluth, Minnesota closed in 1987, followed by South Chicago's South Works in 1992.
Internationally, U.S. Steel operates facilities in Slovakia (former East Slovakian Iron Works in Košice) and Serbia - former Sartid company with facilities in Smederevo (steel plant, hot and cold mill) and Šabac (tin mill).By the end of January 2012, U.S.Steel sells its loss making Serbian mills outside Belgrade to the Serbian government.
Recently, U.S. Steel added facilities in Texas with the purchase of Lone Star Steel Company, entered a venture in Pittsburg, California with POSCO of South Korea, and purchased Stelco (now U.S. Steel Canada) to expand into the Canadian market, with works in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario.
The company opened a new training facility, the Mon Valley Works Training Hub, in Duquesne, Pennsylvania in 2008. The state-of-the-art facility, located on a portion of the property once occupied by the company's Duquesne Works, serves as the primary training site for employees at U.S. Steel's three Pittsburgh-area Mon Valley Works locations. This site also served as the company's temporary technical support headquarters during the 2009 G20 Summit.
Northampton & Bath Railroad
U.S. Steel once owned the Northampton & Bath Railroad. The N&B was an 11-kilometer (6.8 mi) short line railroad built in 1904 that served Atlas Cement in Northampton, Pennsylvania, and Keystone Cement in Pennsylvania. By 1979 cement shipments had dropped off such that the railroad was no longer economically viable and the line was abandoned. A 1.5-kilometer (0.93 mi) section of track was retained to serve Atlas Cement. The remainder of the right-of-way was transformed into the Nor-Bath Trail.
The history of the modern steel industry began in the late 1850s, but since then steel has been basic to the world's industrial economy. This article is intended only to address the business, economic and social dimensions of the industry, since the bulk production of steel began as a result of Henry Bessemer's development of the Bessemer converter in 1857. Previously steel was very expensive to produce and only used in small expensive items such as knives, swords and armour.
The US started from a lower base, but grew faster; from 0.32 million tons in 1870, to 1.74 million in 1870, and 31.5 million in 1913.
United States

From 1875 to 1920 American steel production grew from 380,000 tons to 60 million tons annually, making the U.S. by far the dominant world leader. The annual growth rates in steel 1870-1913 were 7.0% for the US; 1.0% for Britain; 6.0% for Germany; and 4.3% for France, Belgium and Russia, the other major producer. This explosive American growth rested on solid technological foundations, assisted by other factors, including the protective tariff and the continuous rapid expansion of urban infrastructures, office buildings, factories, railroads, bridges and other sectors that increasingly demanded steel. The use of steel in automobiles and household appliances came in the 20th century.
A key element was the easy availability of iron ore, coal, and manpower. Iron ore of fair quality was abundant in the eastern states, but the Lake Superior region contained huge deposits of exceedingly rich ore; the Marquette Range was discovered in 1844; operations began in 1846. Other ranges were opened by 1910, including the Menominee, Gogebic, Vermilion, Cuyuna, and, greatest of all, (in 1892) the Mesabi range in Minnesota. This iron ore was shipped through the Lakes to ports such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Erie and Buffalo for shipment by rail to the steel mill. Abundant coal was available in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Manpower was short. Few Native Americans wanted to work in the mills, but immigrants from Britain and Germany (and later from Eastern Europe) arrived in great numbers.
In 1869 iron was already a major industry, accounting for 6.6% of manufacturing employment and 7.8% of manufacturing output. By then the central figure was Carnegie. Who made Pittsburgh the center of the industry. He sold his operations to US Steel in 1901, which became the world's largest steel corporation for decades.
In the 1880s, the transition from wrought iron paddling to mass-produced Bessemer steel greatly increased worker productivity. Highly skilled workers remained essential, but the average level of skill declined. Nevertheless steelworkers earned much more than ironworkers despite their fewer skills. Workers in an integrated, synchronized mass production environment wielded greater strategic power, for the greater cost of mistakes bolstered workers' status. The experience demonstrated that the new technology did not decrease worker bargaining leverage by creating an interchangeable, unskilled workforce

US Steel
By 1900 the US was the largest producer and also the lowest cost producer, and demand for steel seemed inexhaustible. Output had tripled since 1890, but customers, not producers, mostly benefitted. Productivity-enhancing technology encouraged faster and faster rates of investment in new plants. However during recessions, demand fell sharply taking down output, prices, and profits. Charles M. Schwab of Carnegie Steel proposed a solution: consolidation. Financier J. P. Morgan arranged the buyout of Carnegie and most other major forms, and put Elbert Gary in charge.
US Steel combined finishing firms (American Tin Plate (controlled by William Henry "Judge" Moore), American Steel and Wire, and National Tube) with two major integrated companies, Carnegie Steel and Federal Steel. It was capitalized at $1.466 billion, and included 213 manufacturing mills, one thousand miles of railroad, and 41 mines. In 1901, it accounted for 66% of America's steel output, and almost 30% of the world's. During World War I, its annual production exceeded the combined output of all German and Austrian firms.
Apogee and decline
The industry was at its peak in the period 1940-1970. Integration was the watchword, as the various processes were brought together by large corporations, from mining the iron ore to shipping the finished product to wholesalers. The typical steelworks was a giant operation, including blast furnaces, Bessemer converters, open-hearth furnaces, rolling mills, coke ovens and foundries, as well as supported transportation facilities. The largest ones were operated in the region from Chicago to St. Louis to Baltimore, Philadelphia and Buffalo. Smaller operations appeared in Birmingham, Alabama, and in California.
The industry grew slowly but other industries grew even faster, so that by 1967, as the downward spiral began, steel accounted for 4.4% of manufacturing employment and 4.9% of manufacturing output. After 1970 American steel producers could no longer compete effectively with low-wage producers elsewhere. Imports and local mini-mills undercut sales. Most mills were closed. Bethlehem went bankrupt in 2001. In 1984, Republic merged with Jones and Laughlin Steel Company; the new firm went bankrupt in 2001. US Steel diversified into oil (Marathon Oil was spun off in 2001). Finally US Steel reemerged in 2002 with plants in three American locations (plus one in Europe) that employed fewer than one-tenth the 168,000 workers of 1902. By 2001 steel accounted for only 0.8% of manufacturing employment and 0.8% of manufacturing output.[40]
The world steel industry peaked in 2007. That year, ThyssenKrupp spent $12 billion to build the two most modern mills in the world, in Alabama and Brazil. The worldwide great recession starting in 2008, however, with its heavy cutbacks in construction, sharply lowered demand and prices fell 40%. ThyssenKrupp lost $11 billion on its two plants, which sold steel below the cost of production. Finally in 2013, ThyssenKrupp offered the plants for sale at under $4 billion.

SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT Analysis, is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective.

The aim of any SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to achieving the objective. SWOT analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories.

Internal factors - The strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization.
External factors - The opportunities and threats presented by the external environment.

The internal factors may be viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their impact on the organization's objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknesses for another objective. The factors may include all of the 4P's; as well as personnel, finance, manufacturing capabilities, and so on. The external factors may include macroeconomic matters, technological change, legislation, and socio-cultural changes, as well as changes in the marketplace or competitive position. The results are often presented in the form of a matrix.

|US Steel |
|Parent Company |United States Steel Corporation |
|Category |Iron & Steel |
|Sector |Industrial products |
|Tagline/ Slogan |Building Value, World competitive, Making Steel |
|USP |One of the World’s largest steel producer & manufactures a wide range of value-added steel sheet |
| |and tubular products |
|STP |
|Segment |Flat-rolled Products (Flat-rolled), U. S. Steel Europe (USSE) |
| |and Tubular Products (Tubular) |
|Target Group |Automotive, appliance, container, industrial machinery, construction, and oil and gas industries |
|Positioning |Setting world-class standards in everything it does |
|SWOT Analysis |
|Strength |1. Market leader in US with a workforce of over 45,000 |
| |2. Operations are efficient and high tech |
| |3. A leader in both process and product technology |
| |4. Annual raw steelmaking capability of nearly 30 million net tons |
| |5. The company’s customer focus is intense steel had much greater strength and durability |
| |6. Dominant world leader. |
| |7. Effective communication |
| |8. Loyal customers |
| | |
| | |
|Weakness |1. U. S. Steel and its end-product markets continue to be impacted by challenging economic |
| |conditions |
| |2. Increased imports of steel products into North America shows inability to cater to demand |
| |3. Unskilled workers |
| |4. Greater production cost |
| |5. Low R&D |
| |6. No online presence |
| |7. Not innovative |
| |8. Poor supply chain |
| |9. generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself, |
| |10. generally high debt management risk, |
| |11. Poor profit margins, weak operating cash flow and feeble growth in its earnings per share. |
| |12. The gross profit margin for UNITED STATES STEEL CORP is currently extremely low, coming in at|
| |7.70%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit |
| |margin of -1.58% trails that of the industry average. |
| | |
|Opportunity |1. Exploit opportunities related to the availability of reasonably priced natural gas as an |
| |alternative to coke in the iron reduction process to improve cost competitiveness |
| |2. The increased and ongoing development of shale resources presents an opportunity to increase |
| |tubular product sales |
| |3. The completion of the ERP project will provide opportunities to streamline, standardize and |
| |centralize business processes in order to maximize cost effectiveness, efficiency and control |
| |across global operations |
| |4. Financial markets (raise money through debt, etc) |
| |5. Innovation |
| |6. Online |
|Threats |1. U. S. Steel may face increased risks of customer and supplier defaults |
| |2. Rapidly growing supply in China may result in additional excess worldwide capacity and falling|
| |steel prices |
| |3. Steel consumption is highly cyclical which may have an adverse effect on profitability and |
| |cash flow |
| |4. External changes (government, politics, taxes, etc) |
| |5. Lower cost competitors or imports |
| |6. Price wars |
|Competition |
|Competitors |1. AK Steel Holding Corporation |
| |2. Allegheny Technologies Incorporated |
| |3. Arcelor Mittal |

Suggestion

1. Accelerate the use of natural gas as the primary energy source for steel production. Steel production is critically dependent on energy for the melt and manufacture process. The recent discoveries of natural gas deposits in North America have begun to be utilized by steel producers as a less expensive fuel source. More needs to be done to safely access these deposits and thereby reduce the industry’s energy costs to produce.

2. Increase the research and development efforts of new steel alloys and expand the sustainability of steel products. One of the key factors in the resurgence of the US auto industry has been the development and incorporation of advanced high-strength steels. These high-tech steels provide vehicle designers a combination of high strength, superior formability, dent resistance and improved crash energy management and, perhaps most important, reduced weight resulting in improved MPG. This type of metallurgical research should be supported and expanded, by a partnership between the public and private sectors. As to sustainability, all steel is 100% recyclable and statistics for 2012 show that more steel was recycled than aluminum, copper, paper, glass and plastic combined. Innovative applications for steel in both the civilian and military sectors will improve the product sustainability and will reduce both the unit cost and the environmental impact of production.

3. Enforce fair trade law to insure a level playing field for all steel producers and insist on compliance with the spirit and intent of the Specialty Metals Amendment. The Berry Amendment USC, Title 10, Section 2533a, requires the Department of Defense to give preference in procurement to domestically produced, manufactured, or home-grown products, most notably food, clothing, fabrics, and specialty metals. The Federal Government must confront the unfair trade practices of foreign competitors and insist on aggressive enforcement of the prescribed trade remedies.
The debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13 is relatively high when compared with the industry average, suggesting a need for better debt level management. Along with the unfavorable debt-to-equity ratio, X maintains a poor quick ratio of 0.98, which illustrates the inability to avoid short-term cash problems.
Conclusion

The steel industry is critical to the U.S. economy. Steel is the material of choice for many elements of construction, transportation, manufacturing, and a variety of consumer products. Traditionally valued for its strength, steel has also become the most recycled material, with two-thirds of U.S. steel now produced from scrap.

The U.S. steel industry is a more than $50 billion enterprise, and additional downstream processing pushes the value closer to $75 billion. The industry accounts for nearly 10% of the global raw steel market, providing over 107 million net tons in 2003. Large quantities of low-cost imports have challenged the industry in recent years, but restructuring, downsizing, and widespread implementation of new technologies have led to vastly improved labor productivity, energy efficiency, and yield.

As a result of industry consolidation, the number of steelmaking facilities has decreased significantly over the last few decades. As of 2007, around 85 companies were producing raw steel at almost 140 locations. The absolute number of integrated mills producing steel in basic oxygen furnaces has always been relatively small and is currently at around 20. The highest geographic concentration of mills is in the Great Lakes region, including Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York. Approximately 80% of US steelmaking capacity is in these states. The industry employs more than 100,000 people nationwide.

The US steel industry is vital to both economic competitiveness and national security. Steel is the backbone of bridges, skyscrapers, railroads, automobiles, and appliances. More than 3,000 catalogue grades of steel are currently available, not including custom grades for specific users. Most grades of steel in use today - particularly high-strength steels that are lighter and more versatile - were not available ten years ago.

Aruvian's R'search focuses on this highly lucrative industry, bringing you – Analyzing the US Steel Industry. The report is a complete guide to all the recent developments going on in the industry, along with an in-depth analysis on market statistics, market structure, competition in the industry, where the US Steel Industry stands on a global scenario, and much more.

Sections focusing on the value chain analysis of the industry, the steel crisis of 1998, a comparison of US, Japanese and South Korean steel companies, and the importance of the US steel industry to US national defense, adds a different perspective to This report as compared to the many others available today.