U.S. steel beginning to shine again

WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- Steel prices are riding on a commodity boom, pushed by rising demand in China and other emerging markets, industry analysts say.

China has plans to built 97 new airports by 2020, USA Today reported Tuesday, and Russia, India and other countries are also pouring money into bridges and skyscrapers.

As demand has soared, the price of steel doubled last year to $1,100 per ton.

U.S. steel is in high demand as the weak dollar makes U.S.-produced goods more affordable abroad.

U.S. steel is so attractive in the global marketplace that half the U.S. steel makers are owned by foreign companies, up from 5 percent 10 years ago, said Mark Parr of KeyBanc Capital.

On top of that, a series of Chapter 11 bankruptcies in U.S. steel companies in the 1990s allowed the domestic steel makers to re-emerge as a more effective industry, Sam Halpert, an industry analyst, told USA Today.

The American Iron and Steel Institute said it took 500,000 workers to make 91 million tons of steel in 1970. Last year, 160,000 employees were able to produce 110 million tons.