For steel business, pandemic poses new kind of uncertainty

Kai Ryssdal, Alli Fam, and Andie Corban Apr 8, 2020
HTML EMBED:
COPY
Keystone/Getty Images

For steel business, pandemic poses new kind of uncertainty

Kai Ryssdal, Alli Fam, and Andie Corban Apr 8, 2020
Keystone/Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Uncertainty is no new entity for the steel industry, which faced all sorts of ups and downs during the trade war with China. And now, the industry is facing a new type of uncertainty from the COVID-19 outbreak.

Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal checked in with Lisa Goldenberg, the president of Delaware Steel Co. in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, about what it’s been like to run her business amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Goldenberg told Kai that one of her biggest challenges right now is planning and logistics. She explained it’s tough to operate a national business when states are following different precautionary measures to slow the spread of COVID-19. “It’s very difficult to operate without a uniform experience,” she said.

Looking ahead, Goldenberg expects that “the new reality is going to look like an up-down-up-down experience.” She is confident folks will “God willing, get back to work,” but companies should expect to “have to shut down very quickly” from another potential surge in the virus.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.