Someone handed me a Wall Street Journal clipping last week saying that coking coal prices are rumoured to have tripled recently, and iron ore is up 65%. This is international pricing; they didn't talk much about U.S. producers, other than that prices are up in the U.S. because less steel is being imported here. The difference was reported in dollars, but it's more than can be blamed on the falling dollar. They're predicting a 10% rise in the cost of steel, though that's peanuts compared to what happened in 2004. If you're buying steel from outside the U.S., the exchange rate is probably hurting you too.
And here we go again.
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