Liberty Steel to cut 355 jobs
Liberty Steel is cutting 355 jobs across its speciality division in South Yorkshire and hot-rolling mill in Newport, Wales.
The company cited "challenging market conditions and a lingering reduction in demand for UK steel products", and said the cuts are designed to ensure the "long-term viability and competitiveness at these locations".
"Unfortunately, the steel industry in the UK is facing challenging conditions and we have made the difficult decision that there is a need to reduce the workforce at a handful of locations, in order to make them sustainable for the long term," Liberty Steel UK chief executive Cornelius Louwrens said.
Liberty's Newport hot-rolled coil (HRC) line has been operating substantially below its 1mn t/yr production capacity — in the year to March 2019, LSN operated at around 25-30pc of capacity, according to Argus calculations. Argus' weekly domestic UK HRC assessment fell from £492.50/t ddp West Midlands on 14 February last year to a series low of £375/t ddp at the end of November.
In its latest financial report, LSN said it transferred shares worth around £3.8mn (€4.5mn) to Liberty Commodities in the financial year to March 2019, to settle debt owed to the trading company.
Argus reported in November that Liberty was looking to cut costs and headcount at its speciality business, which last year had some scrap suppliers stop selling to it for credit reasons.
The job cuts will be centred at Stocksbridge, Rotherham and Brinsworth, all in South Yorkshire, and Newport.
Trade union Community has urged the UK government to discuss high energy costs and business rates, which put mills in the region at a disadvantage relative to their counterparts in continental Europe.
By Colin Richardson
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