Steel makers have been forced to take steps to protect themselves against painful raw material cost increases mainly due to surging demand from Asia's tiger economies, including China, to power their growth.

BBC: Rio shares up on bid speculation

They were crippled in their battle against the Scots by the simple fact that wine, their raw material, cost up to 20 times the price of barley.

ECONOMIST: Spirits

However, with the demand for clothing picking up alongside the shortage of cotton, the cost of the raw material has soared.

FORBES: King Cotton Getting Cheaper Would Send Aeropostale To $36

Asian exporters face slower growth abroad, high raw-material prices, growing competition from China and diminishing returns from cost cutting.

ECONOMIST: Asian equities

Raw material costs have also risen from overseas and domestic sources, adding to labor cost pressures on the bottom line, survey respondents said.

FORBES: In Coastal China, A Labor Shortage

Unfortunately, however, retailers ordered holiday inventory when raw material prices were at all-time highs, so they will be passing along those cost increases to the consumer in order to preserve margins, the firm said.

FORBES: Retail inventories increase amid modest holiday sales views

The defendants schemed with each other, raw material suppliers and certain lenders to flood the U.S. market with solar panels at below-cost prices, the Fremont, California-based company said in the complaint.

FORBES: Solyndra Sues Chinese Solar Makers: Entire Nonsense