Given the high fixed cost base related to operating a steel mill, margins will also decline if a plant is not operated at optimal capacity.

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When you count these kinds of side benefits, you double the cost-effective energy savings in a typical steel mill.

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An even lower-cost group of domestic producers are the mini-mill operators, such as Nucor, which make steel from scrap metal instead of iron ore.

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Many competitors have been through the bankruptcy mill of late, which has helped them trim labor expenses, at the cost of union disgruntlement.

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