1,700 jobs are to go on Teesside as Corus, the rump of British Steel now owned by the Indian group Tata (which also owns Jaguar and Land Rover), mothballs its plant.
Corus Europe chief Kirby Adams said that the loss of jobs was entirely attributable to a consortium of international companies pulling out of a ten year contract. The contract had been to supply slab steel at cost, and for four years, while prices were higher than cost, they profited. When the equation turned the other way, they pulled out.
All this raises a number of questions: why is the UK involved in what would appear to be low-tech steel manufacturing when its skill is in high-tech? Why wasn't the contract watertight? Why were they going for sales at cost rather than at a profit? If it wasn't profitable why do it? The answers may well come out in the next few days. In the meantime we can consider this: the leader of the consortium which pulled out was Marcegaglia Industries, run by Emma Marcegaglia who is also the President of the Italian Confederation of Industry.
I shall return to this as I learn more.
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