Meet America's biggest bull (Hint: He's Russian)
By Shawn Tully, senior editor-at-large
June 22, 2012: 5:00 AM ET

Quote:

...Severstal is a pioneer in producing extra-strong but lightweight steel that improves gas mileage by reducing the vehicles' weight, but also meets the most stringent crash standards. Its initiative so impressed the Department of Energy that it gave preliminary approval for a $740 million loan to expand Dearborn's advanced steel output, but to Mordashov's shock, canceled the commitment in January.

"We're now looking for financing we didn't get from the DOE to expand production," says Mordashov. "We're already making the lightweight steel at Dearborn, but the U.S. will need far more production in the future to meet fuel standards."

Given his big losses in the U.S., it's remarkable that Mordashov remains so optimistic about the future of steel -- and America. At the top of the market in early 2008, Severstal paid $2.6 billion for plants in Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland. When the recession pounded both volumes and prices, Mordashov slashed production and put the mills up for sale. In March of 2011, he sold all three to companies controlled by mining magnate Ira Rennert, renowned for his gigantic "house that ate the Hamptons" on Long Island. The price: just $80 million, leaving a loss of over $2.5 billion in just three years.

Mordashov decided to concentrate Severstal's dollars on two mills, the Dearborn facility because it benefits from the resurgence of the auto industry, and a new, $1.5 billion mill that Severstal recently opened in Columbus, Mississippi. The Mississippi plant, says Mordashov, will also become a leading supplier to automakers in the southern U.S.

Most of all, Mordashov reckons that many people are far too glum about America's future. "We've seen a significant change in the U.S. economy recently, and it's not well understood," he says. "The U.S. has done a great job improving productivity. We're making a lot more steel in Dearborn with fewer people. The unions have accepted much better work rules. An industrial renaissance is happening, and it's underestimated."

He also notes a second big improvement, a major reduction in energy costs. "It's because of the shale gas revolution. I know a Russian entrepreneur who wants to build a fertilizer plant in the southern U.S. because energy costs are so low." An industrial park, part-owned by Severstal, is attracting local steel fabrication companies in Mississippi, epitomizing what's happening all over America.

As Mordashov gives me a parting, buzz-saw handshake, he says, "What you need to keep most in the U.S. is the entrepreneurial spirit. It provides the impetus for job creation. It has created a great quality of life for Americans."

Alexey Mordashov is convinced that an empire built on great manufacturing is poised to strike again.

more: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/2....

He's a bit too early. Personally I'm predicting that we will have a huge resurgence in American manufacturing. However its going to be a lot more automated than people are thinking so those who don't meet a certain combination of agility, ambition and aptitude are frankly going to be left behind. And the best time to really "get in" will be at the next bottom. That's when those with investment capital ready to pile "in" will be able to get floor space, staff, capital equipment, and raw materials at cheap prices in order to setup shop and be very profitable.

How the **** is that possible? 2.5 billion lost???? Thats insane!!

'Where's the money Mordashav?'

'I lost it in the states but I have very good friends there and it's better than that Cuban printed stuff you try to pass of in Moscow. At least I got it through customs!'