its own businesses -- has already begun, according to a top American businessmen.

But Mr. Jerry Myers, the CEO of US-based Steelcase Inc., said the recovery was going to be "very uneven''.

"There's greater optimism among customers and there are more projects getting underway,'' said Mr. Myers, who was in Bermuda on a joint business/recreation trip with 61 of Steelcase's top sales staff.

"It's not going to be a real rapid recovery. It's going to be slow and disjointed.

Steelcase, which employs 20,000 people worldwide, has seen its sales fall by 13.5 percent during the recession, although its ten percent share of the world's market has remained unchanged.

Mr. Myers spent yesterday morning as a guest of A.F. Smith Trading, in Hamilton, which is Steelcase's local agent.