Corus talks to save UK steel plant with consortium members break down

Tata Steel's UK-based European subsidiary, Corus Plc, today said that it would step up search for alternative solutions to save its Teesside Cast Products plant (TCP) from collapsing after talks with an international consortium of four steel companies broke down.

The purpose of the meeting was to get the consortium to respect the contract with Corus that they unilaterally terminated on 7 April 2009, or to find some other solution that provided a sustainable future for Teesside Cast Products.

Corus said that it presented a number of options by which this could be achieved. Unfortunately, it was clear from the meeting that the consortium is unable to guarantee long-term offtake in sufficient volume, and that Corus needs to pursue other solutions.

In May, a consortium comprising Marcegaglia, Dongkuk Steel Mills, Duferco Participations Holding and Alvory, which had a 10-year contract with Corus to lift around 78 per cent of Teesside's 3.5 million tonnes of the steel it produces every year, pulled out of the contract, leading to the prospect of plant closure and 2,000 workers facing the prospect of job losses.(See: Consortium deal pull out may hit 2,000 jobs at Corus)

The offtake agreement came into effect in January 2005 and was not due to expire till the end of 2014.

Last month, Corus threatened to sue the individual executives of the consortium for millions of pounds for backing out on the long-term contract. (See: Corus to sue consortium executives for breaking contract)