Over 2,000 Jobs Could Be At Risk At Redcar Steel Plant
More than 2,000 jobs could be on the line after one of the UK's largest steel plants missed a series of debt repayments, it has been reported.
More than 2,000 jobs could be on the line after one of the UK's largest steel plants missed a series of debt repayments, it has been reported.
SSI, the Thai-based owners of the Redcar plant on Teesside, has been hammered by falling demand for the slab steel produced there, with prices plummeting 40% in the last year as a result.
SSI chief operating officer Cornelius Louwrens warned this summer that itssignificant and substantial'' losses could not be sustained.
While SSI has declined to comment, The Telegraph is reporting that the company failed to repay loans worth #80 million in June and was given a short-term stay of execution by lenders.
Failure to stump up the cash could result in the 160-year-old site, which employs more than 2,000 workers and 1,000 contractors in a region where unemployment is among the highest in the country, being put into administration after a long battle with huge losses,'' the newspaper said.
SSI took over the Teesside plant in 2010 after it was mothballed, and is believed to have spent around #1 billion getting it up and running.