Steel Strip

 
It is widely reported that the UK trade deficit unexpectedly widened as exports fell and imports surged during December.
This is despite the weak pound that should help our exports.
What surprises me the most, is that the Government and the press are “surprised” by this.
For many years now, successive Governments have done nothing to support or [...]

Steel workers’ union Community has asked the Environment Agency to hold in trust the carbon credits accrued by Corus’s doomed plant in Redcar until production resumes.
Corus is mothballing its historic steel making operation in Teesside, which threatens the livelihoods of 1,600 workers in one of the country’s worst unemployment blackspots.
The closure has led to [...]

Corus, the steelmaker, was accused on Wednesday of not wanting to sell its Teesside Cast Products plant for competitive reasons.
With jobs of 1,600 at TCP on the line only hours before mothballing starts on Friday, Ray Mallon, Middlesbrough’s elected mayor, claimed a credible consortium interested in buying the plant had received no response from Corus [...]

The Teesside Cast Products Plant (TCP) run by Corus, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, will finally be mothballed on Friday - three weeks after the Redcar site was initially planned to shut down.
Local Labour MP Vera Baird said the rising price of steel could give the town’s major employer a future, and [...]

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised to talk to Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata as a last ditch effort to stop the Corus steel plants in Teeside from being shut down at the month end and thus save 1,700 jobs.
Brown gave the assurance to three MPs, Ashok Kumar, Solicitor General Vera Baird and Dar [...]

Steelmaker Corus has confirmed it will curtail production at its Teesside Cast Products factory, putting 1,700 people out of work.
It had been announced in May that the 150-year-old Redcar plant was to be mothballed.
The plant had been at risk since a 10-year deal suddenly fell through.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson expressed his disappointment, saying [...]

Tata Steel is looking for joint venture partners to run its Teesside plant in England, according to Mr Kirby Adams, CEO of Tata-Steel Europe.
The plant belongs to Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus, which Tata Steel acquired two years ago.
The plant had run into trouble early this year after a consortium of buyers, which had committed [...]

MEPS reported a generally weak market in November with the exception of China.
“Raw steel output continues to climb steadily in the US. Mill utilisation rates were up to almost 65 percent in the first week of November. However, the recent relighting of blast furnaces has not coincided with a similar upturn in consumption. Oversupply could [...]

The EU producers are currently facing low order intake as the flurry of activity in early September has tailed off now that distributors have restocked to appropriate levels. In many countries, prices have been lowered a little to encourage purchasing. Negotiations will start soon for first quarter 2010 business but no official announcements have been [...]

Tata Steel on Wednesday said its European subsidiary Corus will be able to meet full capacity utilisation by the end of the current fiscal, riding on revival in global demand.
Corus, which had cut production capacity of its mills by as much as 50 per cent amid the demand slump last year, has currently revived [...]