ThyssenKrupp-owned UK online trading platform SteelBuy will discontinue and wind down operations on 1 October, it said in a note to customers today.
Trading will cease on September 30 and from that date onwards no new transactions will be processed through it and all live listings will be removed.
"We are of course aware of the impacts the closure of the platform will have for you. We wish to express our sincere gratitude for the trust and partnership you have shown us during our time in business", Isabel Griffiths, customer service manager, said in the email.
The company had struggled to attract listings to an extent, and was acting like a trading business in some aspects, sourcing material to quote and offering credit insurance to those that could not get insurance on certain buyers. It was a creditor of Birkenhead-based Atlantic Steel, which fell into administration in May 2024.
One source close to ThyssenKrupp called the closure "inevitable".
ThyssenKrupp has been restructuring its wider UK business of late. From 1 October the mild steel division of ThyssenKrupp Materials UK will change its reporting line to ThyssenKrupp Trading UK, continuing to offer German and now imported material; the competitiveness of imports into the UK has reduced German flow in recent years.
