19 days to save Corus Teesside Cast Products

Jan 29 2010 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

INDIAN bosses at Tata Steel say a “final decision” on the future of Teesside Cast Products will be made on February 16.

That gives campaigners just 19 days to come up with a deal to save the plant.

Unions and Government ministers have been working furiously to broker an investment package that could yet see taxpayers take a substantial stake in the Redcar steelmaker, which is slated for mothballing by Tata’s European division Corus.

In a live interview with the Indian news channel CNBC, Tata Steel MD HM Nerurkar, said it would honour its agreement with unions to keep the plant going until raw material stocks had run out. “So on the 16th a final announcement will be made on what he (Kirby Adams, Corus CEO) is planning to do.”

The Corus chief is thought to have one of two options: to give the green light for salamandering the blast furnace, which will put it out of production, or allowing the 3m tonne a year plant to continue producing slab steel under a new ownership agreement.

It is understood unions have brought in specialist advisors to help prepare a business plan that convinces Government and Tata that TCP is a viable operator.

At a recent inquiry into the steel crisis, plant MD Jon Bolton indicated that TCP, which has been mainly supplying slab to Corus mills elsewhere in the UK could not survive as a stand alone unit.