Posted on 17 Aug 2021
Liberty Steel will restart limited casting at its Rotherham steel and bar site on 18 August, following its summer shutdown and a week of furlough for employees.
But the company will be producing at lower volumes than anticipated as it awaits new financing for expected volumes. It will have 43 small bloom casts for its Scunthorpe merchant bar works and five large bloom casts for its Brinsworth narrow strip mill in the next 10 days, at 160t per cast, but expects to meet that demand in around half the time — with no Thrybergh or high-value grade material being produced for Stocksbridge, Rotherham is only producing at a fraction of its capacity.
Workers at the plant have been told an announcement on refinancing is likely in the next 7-10 days. Sources say talks are continuing with typical "high-yield" investors, but that they might not be advanced enough for an announcement in this timeframe.
In a recent press release, Liberty said "new business plans" were being developed that would enable Liberty Steel UK to "resume production in the short term and create a more sustainable future for the assets over the longer term". A leading consultancy, thought to be Boston Consulting Group, is working with Liberty to validate these plans. The company has been buying scrap on a hand-to-mouth basis in recent months, rather than through normal monthly negotiations.
Source:Argus
