BUCKEYE STATE STEELMAKERS REPORT NEARLY $900 MILLION IN '95 CAPITAL SPENDING; ANOTHER $600 MILLION IN '96

COLUMBUS, Ohio (January 29, 1996) –  Ohio steel producers invested nearly $900 million in capital improvements last year -- almost double their spending in 1994, the Ohio Steel Industry Advisory Commission reported today.

The Commission also said steelmakers expect to spend more than $600 million in 1996 on capital improvements across the Buckeye State.

"This major investment by the steel industry demonstrates a high level of confidence in Ohio as a good place to do business," said Harold V. Kelly, co-chairman of the Commission and executive vice president at Republic Engineered Steels, Inc., based in Massillon. "It likewise illustrates that heavy manufacturing is still a critically important element in any robust and growing economy."

Last year’s figures reflect the startup and completion of several very large steel projects:

• - North Star BHP Steel Co. Ltd. began building a new mini-mill in Delta, Ohio, which will involve total investment of more than $430 million when completed late this year. North Star BHP, a joint venture of North Star Steel Co. in Minneapolis, Minn., and BHP Steel of Melbourne, Australia, is not a member of the Steel Commission, but its capital spending totals are included in the 1995 and 1996 figures cited here.
  
  
• - Republic’s $165 million casting and rolling facility in Canton, Ohio, completed last year.
  
  
• - Armco Inc.’s $100 million thin-slab casting facility in Mansfield, Ohio, also completed last year.
  
  
• - Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp.’s $80 million tin coating plant in Yorkville, Ohio, for which construction began last year. The plant is a joint venture between Wheeling-Pittsburgh and steel companies from Japan and South Korea.

The $890 million in spending recorded across Ohio last year compares to $450 million in 1994 and $390 million in 1993.

"Ohio is America’s second-leading steel-producing state, but we would like to be No. 1," said Donald Jakeway, co-chairman of the Commission and director of the Ohio Department of Development. "The momentum we’re seeing with steel reinvestment in recent years tells us we’re making progress toward our ambitious goal."

In 1994, the latest year for which figures are available, Ohio steelmakers produced 17 percent of the nation’s steel, compared to 21.5 percent by Indiana, the leading steel state. A year earlier, Ohio produced 16.5 percent of America’s steel, compared to 22.1 percent for Indiana.

The Ohio Steel Commission is a public-private partnership to strengthen ties among the steel industry, the state of Ohio and its citizens. The Commission’s member organizations are AK Steel Corp., Armco Inc., CSC Ltd., LTV Steel Co., Republic Engineered Steels, Inc., The Timken Co., USS/KOBE Steel Co., WCI Steel, Inc., Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., the United Steelworkers of America, the Ohio Legislature, the Ohio Department of Development, The Ohio State University and Youngstown State University.