The remarkable effects of the long-sought steel industry consolidation are underscored by the accompanying table showing the Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization)-to-sales ratio of major steelmakers around the globe. A dramatic improvement is seen when comparing the North American industry results for the trailing 12 months of deep recession—operating at less than 50 percent of capacity—with numbers for the unconsolidated companies in the 1975 recession.

It is perhaps an oversimplification to attribute this improvement...