Hopes revive for 1,600 jobs as Corus postpones Teesside mothballing

Monday, 18 January 2010 12:11:38 (GMT+2)

On Friday, January 15, Corus, Europe's second largest steel producer owned by Indian steel giant Tata Steel, has agreed with the trade unions' request to extend operations at the Teesside Cast Products (TCP) steel plant in Redcar, UK, until all the raw materials currently on site have been consumed, or until the end of February, whichever is first, according to a Corus press release.

Corus will place internal orders on TCP in order to give at least three weeks of continued operation beyond the end of January. During this time, the trade unions and Corus will jointly explore further opportunities to continue steelmaking on Teesside.

As SteelOrbis previously reported, Corus had announced earlier last week after a meeting with union leaders that it would reconsider a proposal to extend the operation of the Teesside plant and postpone the partial mothballing of the plant to the end of February.

In a press release issued on Monday, January 12, Corus also confirmed its intention to continue operating the South Bank Coke Ovens, following the improvement in the market conditions for coke. As a result of this decision about 120 additional jobs have been retained.

Corus also said on January 12 that a productive first meeting had been held with trade union leaders about the future of the TCP, which before the meeting had been due to close at the end of January with the loss of about 1,600 jobs.

The decision to mothball TCP follows efforts by Corus over the past eight months to secure a long-term future for the plant after the failure of four international slab buyers to fulfil their obligations under a 10-year contract that they signed with Corus in 2004.  This contract committed the consortium in question to buying about 80 percent of the plant's production for ten years.

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