"We've seen good levels of output, and given that, for the bulk commodities in particular that's the iron ore and coal both steaming and coking those prices are looking strong.
VOA: standard.2010.01.21
Experts reckon it could take several years to restore outputlevels to what they were before the Gulf war of 1991.
Conditions in the global economy have changed dramatically since then, however, forcing oil producers' group Opec to cut outputlevels in an effort to stabilise prices.
The same is true for the Washington, DC, area, where an all-but-recession-proof economy based on the federal government has already managed a return to pre-downturn outputlevels.