31.   Then the industry was hit by a double whammy.

32.   Two separate provisions in the budget would hit the industry hard.

33.   While tax structures may make Southeastern states more susceptible to the economic downturn, the pullback also is hitting their industries hard.

34.   And in doing so, it missed spearheading the last massive trend to hit the industry - disposable contact lenses.

35.   In November, the industry was hit again by a government austerity package that included higher taxes on automobiles.

36.   In particular, airline stocks across Europe are falling on concern the industry will be hit by the slowdown in the U.S. economy.

37.   Low-tech industries were hit first with falloffs in exports of such goods as textiles.

38.   Mr Chan said the surging court awards would hit the industry as more and more money has to be paid out.

39.   Now that the entire industry is badly hit by the down-turn, it may not be too late to review the marketing and sales strategies.

40.   Representatives of oil companies in Australia such as Mobil, BP and Esso said the industry had been hit hard by recent economic conditions and budgets had been slashed.