More than 400 jobs at risk in Liberty Steel restructuring plan

Liberty Steel has confirmed it plans to cut production and idle some of its smaller plants in a restructuring drive that threatens 440 jobs.

The company, which is part of Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance Alliance, said it intends to concentrate on its “high value alloy steel production” at Rotherham, Stocksbridge and Brinsworth in South Yorkshire.

Production at Rotherham’s electric arc furnace will be reduced and replaced with imports from abroad.

The company has warned that high energy costs are making the production of commodity grade products uncompetitive.

Operations in West Bromwich will be idled, with Liberty Steel’s steelmaking activities at Newport in South Wales to be mothballed and the site turned into a storage, distribution and trading hub.

The measures, which Liberty has attributed “severe competitiveness issues”, “may potentially impact up to 440 roles across the business”, the company said in a statement today – 12 January.

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