Competition The Company competes in the market for light structural and merchant bar steel products and does not currently compete with minimill flat rolled producers or most domestic integrated steel producers. Light Structural Shapes. The Louisiana Facility’s location on the Mississippi River, as well as the stocking locations in three additional regions of the country, provide access to large markets in the Eastern, Midwestern, Southern, and Central portions of the United States. As a result, the Company competes in the light structural shape market with several major domestic minimills in each of these regions. Depending on the region and product, the Company primarily competes with Nucor Corporation’s Bar Mill Group (comprised of Nucor Darlington, Jewett, Norfolk and Plymouth and the former Auburn Steel and the former Birmingham Steel in Seattle, Kankakee, Jackson and Birmingham), and Gerdau Ameristeel (comprised of Ameristeel, the former Birmingham-Cartersville, Manitoba Rolling Mill, Courtice and LASCO), and Commercial Metals Corporation (comprised of SMI Steel South Carolina, SMI Steel Alabama and SMI Steel Texas). Certain of these competitors have significantly greater financial resources than the Company. Merchant Bar Shapes. The Tennessee Facility’s location accessible to the Mississippi River waterway system, as well as the Company’s stocking locations in three additional regions of the country, provide access to large markets in the Appalachian states, and the Eastern, Midwestern, upper Midwestern, Mid-Atlantic, and Central portions of the United States. Merchant bar competitors in the regions are Gerdau Ameristeel, Commercial Metals Corporation, Nucor Corporation, Roanoke Electric, North Star Steel and Marion Steel. The recent acquisition of Qualitech by SMI and conversion to a merchant bar producer from special bar quality is forecasted for 2004. Rebar. The Tennessee Facility may produce rebar in varying quantities depending on economic and market trends. The Tennessee Facility’s main competitor for rebar is Gerdau Ameristeel Corporation in Knoxville, Tennessee. Gerdau Ameristeel, however, fabricates a large portion of its rebar in competition with independent fabricators who would be the target customers of the Tennessee Facility. Independent fabricators opting not to buy from a competitor may create a significant niche. Other competitors include SMI/Cayce Steel and Nucor Corporation. Foreign steel producers historically have not competed significantly with the Company in the domestic market for merchant bar and light structural shape sales due to higher freight costs relative to end product prices. However, during fiscal 2000 and 2001, the Company experienced significant competition from foreign producers adversely impacting both price and shipment volumes. The market pressures that commenced with an oversupply due to imports have had an adverse impact on the Company’s financial position. Raw Materials The Company’s major raw material is steel scrap, which is generated principally from industrial, automotive, demolition, railroad, and other sources, is primarily purchased directly in the open market through a large number of steel scrap dealers. The Company is able to efficiently transport steel scrap from suppliers throughout the inland waterway system and through the Gulf of Mexico, permitting it to take advantage of steel scrap purchasing opportunities far from its minimill, and to protect itself from supply imbalances that develop from time to time in specific local markets. In addition, unlike many other minimills, the Company, through its own scrap purchasing staff, buys scrap primarily from scrap dealers and contractors rather than through brokers. The Company believes that its enhanced knowledge of scrap market conditions gained by being directly involved in scrap procurement on a daily basis, coupled with management’s extensive experience in metals recycling markets, gives the Company the ability to minimize the cost of its highest cost component. The Company does not currently depend upon any single supplier for its scrap. No single vendor supplies more than 10% of the Company’s scrap needs. The Company, on average, maintains a 15 to 20-day inventory of steel scrap. The Company has a program of buying directly from local steel scrap dealers for cash. Through this program, the Company has procured approximately 23% of its steel scrap at prices lower than those of large steel scrap dealers. The Company also maintains an automobile shredder and scrap processing facility at a site adjacent to the Louisiana Facility to produce shredded steel scrap and cut grades, two of several types used by the Company. The scrap processing division began operating the automobile shredder in late fiscal 1995 and commenced scrap processing in late fiscal 1998. During fiscal 2002, approximately 30% of the total steel scrap requirements were met by this operation. The Company plans, and the operation has the capacity to produce a greater quantity of steel scrap; however, low scrap prices in recent years limited the availability of raw material to process. 4
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