Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel will cut production and mothball sites in a shake-up that threatens 440 jobs.
The group blamed soaring energy prices, which made it ‘unviable’ to make certain types of steel and will now import them from overseas.
It is the latest crisis in an industry, which has struggled for years with high power costs and cheap imports.
Cuts: Liberty Steel says soaring energy prices have made it ‘unviable’ to make certain types of steel and that it will now import them from overseas
Scunthorpe-based British Steel is seeking a Government bailout of £300million.
Liberty, Britain’s third-largest steel maker, employs around 2,350 people at 11 sites including Newport, Rotherham and West Bromwich. It almost went bust after the collapse of Greensill Capital in 2021.
Greensill was the largest lender to Liberty’s parent company GFG, which is run by Gupta.
GFG is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office over suspected fraud and money laundering.
Unions claimed Liberty had not consulted them. Alun Davies, of the Community union, described the news as a ‘body blow’ while the Unite union said it would fight ‘tooth and nail’ for every job.
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