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                                                                   EXHIBIT 10.26

                               RYERSON TULL, INC.
                 ANNUAL PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT INCENTIVE PLAN


1.   Purpose

     The purpose of the Ryerson Tull, Inc. Annual Performance Improvement
Incentive Plan (the "Plan") is to promote the interests of Ryerson Tull, Inc.
(the "Company") and its stockholders by (i) attracting and retaining salaried
employees of outstanding ability; (ii) strengthening the Company's capability to
develop, maintain and direct a competent employee population; (iii) motivating
salaried employees, by means of performance-related incentives, to achieve
financial rewards; (iv) providing annual incentive compensation opportunities
which are competitive with those of other major corporations; and (v) enabling
salaried employees to participate in the growth and financial success of the
Company.

2.   Definitions

     "Affiliate" means any corporation or other entity which is not a Subsidiary
but as to which the Company possesses a direct or indirect ownership interest
and has power to exercise management control.

     "Award" means an amount for an Award Period determined to be payable to a
Participant under the Plan.

     "Award Period" means such calendar quarters or calendar years as the
Committee may establish from time to time with respect to any applicable salary
grade designation, to any Corporate Unit or to a combination of these factors.

     "Award Schedule" means the schedule to be used for determining Awards as
established by the Committee and set forth in the Addendum to the Plan
applicable to the Corporate Unit covered thereby.

     "Code" means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

     "Committee" means the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of
the Company.

     "Corporate Unit" means the Company, Joseph T. Ryerson & Son/East, Joseph T.
Ryerson & Son/Central, Joseph T. Ryerson & Son/West, Ryerson Coil Processing,
J.M. Tull Metals Company, Inc., Inland Industries de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., and
any Affiliate, other Subsidiary or any division or group of the Company or any
Subsidiary designated as a Corporate Unit from time to time by the Board of
Directors of the Company.

    "Employee" means an employee eligible to be designated as a Participant in
the Plan.
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      "Named Executive Officer" means a Participant who is one of the group of
"covered employees" as defined in the regulations promulgated under section
162(m) of the Code.

     "Participant" means an Employee who is selected by the Committee to
receive an Award under the Plan.

     "Performance-Based Exception" means the performance-based exception from
the deductibility limitations as set forth in section 162(m) of the Code.

     "Subsidiary" means any corporation in which the Company possesses directly
or indirectly more than fifty percent (50%) of the total combined voting power
of all classes of its stock.

     "Target Award" means the percentage of a Participant's base salary earnings
or base annual salary for an Award Period as established by the Committee
pursuant to paragraph 6 of the Plan and set forth in the Addendum to the Plan
applicable to the Corporate Unit in which such Participant is employed.

     "Threshold" means the minimum financial performance (established by the
Committee and set forth in the Addendum to the Plan applicable to such Corporate
Unit) required by a Corporate Unit before an Award may be paid to a Participant
employed in such Corporate Unit.

3.   Administration

     The Plan shall be administered by the Committee. No member of the Committee
shall be eligible to receive an Award while serving on the Committee. The
Committee shall have the authority to interpret the Plan and to establish, amend
and rescind rules and regulations for the administration of the Plan, and all
such interpretations, rules and regulations shall be conclusive and binding on
all persons. In addition, the Committee may delegate to one or more senior
executive officers of the Company the right to administer the Plan as it
pertains to employees who are not officers of the Company or of any other
Corporate Unit. Subject to the provisions of paragraph 7 hereof, the Committee
may impose such conditions on participation in and Awards under the Plan as it
deems appropriate.

4.   Eligibility

     Except as otherwise provided by the Committee and subject to paragraph 9
hereof, all full-time salaried employees of a Corporate Unit as of the first day
and the last day of an Award Period are eligible to be designated as
Participants in the Plan for such Award Period; provided, however, that, with
respect to Award Periods that extend for at least one year, individuals who are
full-time salaried employees of a Corporate Unit on August 1 of the first year
of the Award Period and the last day of the Award Period shall also be eligible
to be designated as Participants in the Plan for such Award

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Period. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Committee may adopt criteria
restricting the number of full-time salaried employees of a Corporate Unit
eligible to be designated as Participants in the Plan for any Award Period,
which criteria shall be set forth in the Addendum to the Plan applicable to
such Corporate Unit.

5.   Designation of Participants

     The Committee shall determine and designate from time to time those
Employees who shall be Participants.  The designation of an Employee as a
Participant in the Plan for any Award Period shall not bestow upon such Employee
any right to receive an Award for such Award Period or the right to be
designated as a Participant for any subsequent Award Period.

6.   Individual Award Opportunity

     For each Award Period, the Committee shall establish for each Participant a
Target Award, expressed as a percentage of his or her base salary earnings for
such Award Period, on the basis of his or her salary grade designation.

7.   Determination of Awards

     Awards for each Award Period for Participants in each Corporate Unit shall
be determined in accordance with the Award Schedule established by the Committee
for such Corporate Unit. No Award shall be paid to any Participant in a
Corporate Unit for any Award Period in which the performance of such Corporate
Unit does not equal or exceed the Threshold applicable to such Corporate Unit.
The Award for each Participant in a Corporate Unit shall be his or her Target
Award multiplied by the Percent Attainment (determined in accordance with the
applicable Award Schedule), subject to the following:

     (a)  Subject to paragraph 3 and the provisions of this paragraph 7, the
     Committee may adjust such Award for individual performance on the basis of
     such quantitative and qualitative performance measures and evaluations as
     it deems appropriate.

     (b)  The Committee may make such adjustments as it deems appropriate in
     the case of any Participant whose salary grade designation has changed
     during the applicable Award Period or who has been employed in more than
     one Corporate Unit during an Award Period.

     (c)  Unless and until the Committee proposes for stockholder vote a change
     in the general performance measures set forth in this paragraph 7(c), the
     attainment of which may determine the degree of payout with respect to
     Awards under the Plan which are designed to qualify for the Performance-
     Based Exception, the performance measure(s) to be used for purposes of such
     Awards shall be chosen from among the following alternatives: return on
     operating assets, operating profit, return on equity,

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     net income, stock price, revenue growth, expense management, inventory
     management, quality management, customer service performance, shareholder
     return, gross margin management and market share improvement. The
     Committee shall have the discretion to establish performance goals based
     upon the foregoing performance measures and to adjust such goals and the
     methodology used to measure the determination of the degree of attainment
     of such goals; provided, however, that Awards under the Plan that are
     intended to qualify for the Performance-Based Exception and that are issued
     to or held by any Named Executive Officer may not be adjusted in a manner
     that increases such Award. The Committee shall retain the discretion to
     adjust such Awards in a manner that does not increase such Awards.
     Furthermore, the Committee shall not make any adjustment to Awards under
     the Plan issued to or held by any Named Executive Officer that are intended
     to comply with the Performance-Based Exception if the result of such
     adjustment would be the disqualification of such Award under the
     Performance-Based Exception. In the event that applicable laws change to
     permit the Committee greater discretion to amend or replace the foregoing
     performance measures applicable to Awards to Named Executive Officers
     without obtaining stockholder approval of such changes, the Committee
     shall have sole discretion to make such changes without obtaining such
     approval. In addition, in the event that the Committee determines that it
     is advisable to grant Awards under the Plan to Named Executive Officers
     that may not qualify for the Performance-Based Exception, the Committee
     may make such grants upon any performance measures it deems appropriate
     with the understanding that they may not satisfy the requirements of
     section 162(m) of the Code.

     Notwithstanding any other provision of the Plan, in no event may a
Participant be paid an Award in any calendar year in excess of $2,000,000.  No
segregation of any moneys or the creation of any trust or the making of any
special deposit shall be required in connection with any awards made or to be
made under the Plan.

8.   Payment of Awards

     Awards shall be paid in cash as soon as practicable after the end of the
Award Period for which the Award is made. If a Participant to whom an Award has
been made dies prior to the payment of the Award, such Award shall be delivered
to his or her legal representative or to such other person or persons as shall
be determined by the Chairman, the President, the Chief Executive Officer or the
Vice President-Human Resources of the Company. The Company or other applicable
Corporate Unit shall have the right to deduct from all Awards payable under the
Plan any taxes required by law to be withheld by the Company or other Corporate
Unit with respect thereto; provided, however, that to the extent provided by
the Committee, any payment under the Plan may be deferred and to the extent
deferred, may be credited with an interest or earnings factor as determined by
the Committee.

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9.   Termination of Employment

     Except in the case of death, disability or normal retirement (determined in
accordance with the qualified retirement plans of the Company) or except as
provided in paragraph 10, a Participant must be an employee as of the end of the
Award Period in order to be eligible for an Award.

10.  Change of Control

     In the event of a Change of Control of the Company (as hereinafter
defined), the Plan shall remain in full force and effect for the remainder of
any Award Period (or, if longer, the remainder of the calendar year) during
which such Change of Control of the Company occurs, and each Participant shall
receive an Award for such Award Periods (or any Award Periods occurring in such
calendar year), at least equal to his or her Target Awards, regardless of
whether or not Awards would otherwise have been payable under the Plan for such
Award Periods and regardless of whether or not such Participant was an Employee
at the end of any such Award Period.  A "Change of Control of the Company" shall
be deemed to have occurred if there shall have been a change in the composition
of the Board of Directors of the Company such that a majority of the Board of
Directors shall have been members of the Board of Directors for less than
twenty-four months, unless the election of each new director who was not a
director at the beginning of the twenty-four month period was approved by a vote
of at least two-thirds of the directors then still in office who were directors
at the beginning of such period.

11.  Transferability

     Any payment to which a Participant may be entitled under the Plan shall be
free from the control or interference of any creditor of such Participant and
shall not be subject to attachment or susceptible of anticipation or
alienation.  The interest of a Participant shall not be transferable except by
will or the laws of descent and distribution.

12.  No Right to Participate; Employment

     Neither the adoption of the Plan nor any action of the Committee shall be
deemed to give any Employee any right to be designated as a Participant under
the Plan.  Further, nothing contained in the Plan, nor any action by the
Committee or any other person hereunder, shall be deemed to confer upon any
Employee any right of continued employment with any Corporate Unit or to limit
or diminish in any way the right of any Corporate Unit to terminate his or her
employment at any time with or without cause.

13.  Nonexclusivity of the Plan

     This Plan is not intended to and shall not preclude the Board of Directors
of the Company from adopting or continuing such addi-

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tional compensation arrangements as it deems desirable for Participants under
this Plan, including any thrift, savings, investment, stock purchase, stock
option, profit sharing, pension, retirement, insurance or other incentive plan.

14.  Amendment

     Except as provided in paragraph 10 hereof, the Board of Directors of the
Company may amend, suspend or terminate the Plan at any time.

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