Raw Materials

Blaming increased costs for raw materials and labor, the Sparrows Point steel plant of Bethlehem Steel Corp., is planning to raise the price tag on its wares over the next two months.Like many of the nation's big steelmakers, Bethlehem Steel has seen demand for its steel products generally lag behind last year's robust levels.At the same time, as the economy continues to soften, Bethlehem's production costs for raw material and energy have risen."We've indicated [to our customers] that the reasons for the increases are our own production prices going up for raw materials, and some increases in labor," said Bethlehem spokesman Henry Von Spreckelsen yesterday.

Taking measures in science and music; Artisan: Charles 0) Vega creates guitars in his spare time when he's not building scientific equipment.Charles Vega spends his days in the world of science, making the precise equipment that a Hopkins chemical lab uses for its experiments.In the off-hours, you'll find him in an equally rarefied yet decidedly more artistic world, making classical guitars."I guess I'm one of those handy men," the 49-year-old Vega says.As a serious amateur guitarist himself, Vega began working on instruments and eventually making them as a way of getting exactly what he wanted -- and for a better price than buying from someone else.

Wall Street has been developing a better appreciation for classic smokestack businesses for the past two years, as the U.S. economy has revived and as China and other emerging economies have stoked demand for raw materials and all sorts of industrial goods. Lately, however, appreciation of commodity-related stocks has given way to near-panic buying. Some investors who paid no attention to these issues for a decade or longer - if ever - now seem willing to pay any price to get into them.

WASHINGTON -- Mid-Atlantic manufacturers said their factory output declined last month as inflation remained in check, according to a Richmond Federal Reserve Bank report released yesterday.Manufacturers surveyed said they expected prices of their goods to rise a modest 0.81 percent over a six-month period, the Richmond Fed said.The pace of price increases for finished goods was little changed last month as raw material price increases slowed, according to the 137 companies surveyed.The report came as Fed policy-makers on the Open Market Committee cut interest rates last week with a judgment that inflation is under control as the economic expansion weakens.

WASHINGTON -- Mid-Atlantic manufacturers see a modest upturn in the rate of inflation and slower economic growth, according to a Richmond, Va., Federal Reserve Bank report yesterday.That fits in with Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan's view that interest rate increases engineered by the Fed are succeeding in slowing the economy's expansion and curbing accelerating inflation.Manufacturers surveyed in the Richmond Fed's region, which includes Maryland, said they expect prices of their finished goods to rise at a 1.4 percent annual rate from July to January, the report said.

As oil costs surged this year, manufacturers raised the prices of a lot of products - not just gasoline but lotions, toothpaste, plastics and many more that use oil as a raw material. Now oil costs are plunging, but other prices are not. Even though oil prices have fallen toward $100 a barrel from $147 less than two months ago, many companies that cited higher energy costs for increasing prices are resisting a rollback, saying they still need to recover money lost in the run-up. Crude oil prices slid yesterday $5.75 a barrel to $109.

Chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co., which is close to emerging from bankruptcy, reported Thursday a 3.2 percent fourth-quarter earnings decline. The Columbia-based company reported net income of $44.9 million, or 60 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 31, down from $46.4 million, or 63 cents per share, for the same quarter last year. The company said last year's earnings benefited from a tax settlement. Quarterly sales increased 2.2 percent to $693 million, compared with $678.

Gold finished the trading year yesterday with its fifth consecutive annual gain, and it also had the biggest quarterly gain since September 2003. Futures for February delivery rose $1.40 yesterday, or 0.3 percent, to $518.90 an ounce on the Comex. The trading session ended early for New Year's weekend. A futures contract is an obligation to sell or buy a commodity at a set price by a specific date. "Gold is a hot commodity now, so more people, especially large hedge funds, are paying attention," said Billy Flahive, a trader at Island Trading Group in New York.

On Jan. 4, 1821, the hat factory owned by Col. Charles S. Sewell at Old Philadelphia Road and Abingdon Road began operation. From 1821 to 1824, Sewell's establishment turned out hats made of beaver, straw and wool for prices ranging from $1.25 to $6. Raw materials - including hat bands, linings, buckles, muslin, velvet and finishing blocks - were obtained from Baltimore. Hats were sold locally and shipped to Charlestown and North East from Otter Point aboard Sewell's schooner, which also transported flour, wheat, salt, iron ore and iron bar. The factory was destroyed by fire in 1822, but Sewell rebuilt and resumed operations within two months.