Last month, a NAPM survey found that U.S. manufacturers are pessimistic about theirprospects for 2001. Two out of three manufacturers surveyed said they were concernedabout business over the coming year, compared with less than half who were pessimisticthe last time the industry group surveyed its members in May. Cheap imports have kept raw materials prices from accelerating. While that has helpedkeep prices low, some manufacturers have suffered. In November, Weirton Steel Corp., thebiggest maker of steel for food cans, said it would lay off about 2,400 workers becausesales are being hurt by lower-priced imported steel. NAPM's index measuring the backlog of orders fell to 36 from 42. The new export ordersindex rose to 49.9 from 48.7, the third month in a row that exports have been in decline.