Corus will keep talking in effort to save jobs

Jun 3 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

THE boss of Corus is to get back in touch with the Italian steel magnate whose consortium’s decision to walk out of an agreement to buy steel from Teesside Cast Products (TCP) put 2,000 jobs under threat.

Corus chief executive Kirby Adams met Redcar MP Vera Baird and North East Minister Nick Brown on Monday amid concerns the company was interested purely in pursuing legal action and not further talks after the multi-national consortium reneged on a 10-year deal to buy steel from the Redcar plant.

There were fears that if the company opted for court rather than dialogue, the process would take so long that there would not be a plant left to save. But Ms Baird said she “took real cheer” from Mr Adams’s insistence that he wanted TCP to continue as a going concern rather than wait for compensation from the consortium of Marcegaglia, Dongkuk, Duferco and Ternium.

She said: “Kirby also made clear to me that he intends to be in touch with Antonio Marcegaglia to seek commercial solutions.

“Antonio himself has agreed to pursue such solutions. That, I feel, is also good news. Clearly, despite the blow Corus feel they have been dealt by Marcegaglia over the offtake agreement, they seem to be indicating that a deal could still be done.”

She said: “His key theme was: we are all on the same page, we are all doing our best to try to save this plant and these jobs.” Ms Baird also welcomed Mr Adams’s decision to travel to Seoul in South Korea this week to meet bosses of Dongkuk, which has been a long term customer of TCP.