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Rouge Industries Reports on Resumption of Primary Operations

12 March 1999

Rouge Industries Reports on Resumption of Primary Operations; Board of Directors Declares First Quarter Dividend

    DEARBORN, Mich., March 12 -- Rouge Industries, Inc.
reported that its Board of Directors met yesterday and reviewed
the Company's plans to return its Primary Operations to production following
the February 1, 1999 explosion and fire at the Rouge Complex Powerhouse that
curtailed the supply of electricity, steam and turbo air to the Company's
steel making facilities.
    According to Carl L. Valdiserri, chairman of the Board of Directors and
the Company's chief executive officer, "We returned our Hot Strip Mill and
Cold Mill operations to production on February 11, 1999.  This allowed us to
continue the flow of products to our customers by drawing down our in-process
and finished inventories and by purchasing over 450,000 tons of slabs and
coils for further processing.  Now, our full attention is focused on the
restoration of our steelmaking capability.  We experienced some unexpected
delays in gaining access to the Powerhouse facility to restore the turbo
blowers that are essential to restarting our blast furnaces.  These delays
were a result of the investigative measures that have been taken to document
the explosion damage and to determine the cause of origin.  Work is now
underway to return the turbo blowers to operation."
    While there was only minor damage to the turbo blower equipment, the
ancillary support systems, including steam and electrical supply, were more
substantially damaged.  Replacement systems are approximately 70% complete.
The Company estimates that the turbo blower and its blast furnaces will return
to operation in late April 1999.
    "We feel good about the progress that we have made so far, and we are
taking advantage of the outage period to pull ahead some maintenance work that
would have required outages later this year," continued Mr. Valdiserri.  "We
also feel good about the strength of our insurance program which we believe
will substantially cover the business interruption and property damage related
to the explosion."
    In a separate action, the Board of Directors approved a first quarter cash
dividend in the amount of three cents ($0.03) per share payable on April 23,
1999 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 9, 1999.

    Safe Harbor Statement

    This press release contains forward-looking information about the Company.
A number of factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ
materially from those anticipated, including changes in the general economic
climate, the supply of or demand for and pricing of steel products in the
Company's markets, potential environmental liabilities and higher than
expected costs.  For further information on these and other factors that could
impact the Company and the statements contained herein, reference should be
made to the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.