compare the numbers, page-14

re: compare the numbers: mvanle ...yes you are right but I don't look at numbers in that way...I look at what the asset is worth and the profit % of it that I have made....its easier for me to quickly calculate the real progress but yes if you want to be technical about it and look at prettier numbers than it is 150% markup on cost...anyway my apologies, I will be clearer in stating how I am looking at it next time...

Anyway, looks like all the steel manufacturers are starting to feel the pinc from zinc..

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=naturalResources&storyID=nT118352&imageid=&cap=

UPDATE 1-Japan steel group sees big iron ore, zinc costs
Thursday 25 May 2006, 5:37am EST

(Updates with details)

TOKYO, May 25 (Reuters) - Higher prices for iron ore, zinc and other metals will cost Japan's steel industry 300 billion yen

($2.7 billion) in the business year to March 2007, the new chairman of the country's steel trade group said on Thursday.

Hajime Bada, president and chief executive of JFE Steel Corp. and new head of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation, said the high price of zinc alone would cost the country's steel makers about 80 billion yen in 2006/07.

The price of zinc, which is used as an anti-corrosive coating in galvanised steel, is up more than 50 percent in Japan since the start of the year, reflecting strong demand and short supply of the base metal.

"Coping with the surge in zinc prices is an urgent issue," Bada told a news conference.

The high price of iron ore, another key raw material used to make steel, is also threatening to dent profits at Japan's leading steel firms, which include world No. 3 Nippon Steel Corp. (5401.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and No. 4 JFE Holdings Inc. (5411.T: Quote, Profile, Research).

Japan's top four steelmakers, which also include Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. (5405.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Kobe Steel Ltd. (5406.T: Quote, Profile, Research), all booked record profits for the year ended March 31 on strong demand for high-quality sheet steel from shipbuilders and car makers.

But they predicted profits would fall this year due to sharp drops in the value of their inventories and uncertainty surrounding raw material costs.

Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (VALE5.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) (RIO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's top iron ore producer, has announced agreements with major world steel makers such as Mittal Steel (ISPA.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) to raise its ore price by 19 percent, effective from April.