SSI UK (Redcar steel plant) into administration

[JoePai]

Wonder if this will get into the BKK Post : LINK

[Berkshire]

Sounds like SSI (the Thai company) made a tactical error in trying to rescue Redcar in the first place. At this point, all they can do is cut their losses and not put any more money into this sinking wreck. If the gov doesn't bail them out, shut the thing down, file for bankruptcy, and sell-off all assets.

[Pib]

Sounds like SSI bought a money losing business they thought they could turn into a money making business but it did't work out for whatever reasons.. From the article the future sounds bleak for the Redcar plant and its workers...unfortunately it sure sounds like job, wage and benefits losses are just over the horizon.

[Sviss Geez]

This is nothing to do with Thais not paying their debts as your attempted Thai bashing headline suggests. A much more appropriate heading would have been "Thai Rescuer of Redcar Steel Plant Re-schedules Loans in Agreement with Banks".

Edited September 16, 2015 by Sviss Geez

[uksomchai]

Funnily enough since coming back from Thailand to get a few things sorted out I have been working there. SSI are just doing what every other buyer of the plant has done for the past decade or so. They are playing politics. They're threatening to lay off 2000 workers and close the plant. A bit down the line the Government as it always has up to now will throw then a huge lump of money and they will carry on till they find another buyer who is willing to pay what SSI want for it and it will start the process off over again. The Thai owners are not your local somtam sellers here they are astute businessmen which I know many may find hard to grasp

The last week or so we have been moving large stockpiles of coke and coal around the site as it has been sold or has been secured as capital for debts.

A spokesman at the Department for Business said: “We understand this must be a worrying time for all involved and we remain in regular dialogue with the company to understand its plans.

“The steel industry is facing difficult global economic conditions but government is working closely with the sector to provide help where we can. We have provided steelmakers with millions of pounds in compensation for energy costs and recently voted to extend anti-dumping measures on certain Chinese steel products.

“We will continue to talk to companies like SSI and provide support where we can.”

New buyers are already waiting to see if the Government stumps up the cash and then if not the bidding will start.

Just don't believe all you read as they say

[roamer]

Funnily enough since coming back from Thailand to get a few things sorted out I have been working there. SSI are just doing what every other buyer of the plant has done for the past decade or so. They are playing politics. They're threatening to lay off 2000 workers and close the plant. A bit down the line the Government as it always has up to now will throw then a huge lump of money and they will carry on till they find another buyer who is willing to pay what SSI want for it and it will start the process off over again. The Thai owners are not your local somtam sellers here they are astute businessmen which I know many may find hard to grasp

The last week or so we have been moving large stockpiles of coke and coal around the site as it has been sold or has been secured as capital for debts.

A spokesman at the Department for Business said: “We understand this must be a worrying time for all involved and we remain in regular dialogue with the company to understand its plans.

“The steel industry is facing difficult global economic conditions but government is working closely with the sector to provide help where we can. We have provided steelmakers with millions of pounds in compensation for energy costs and recently voted to extend anti-dumping measures on certain Chinese steel products.

“We will continue to talk to companies like SSI and provide support where we can.”

New buyers are already waiting to see if the Government stumps up the cash and then if not the bidding will start.

Just don't believe all you read as they say

Have my doubts. Can't see this government putting up any cash. As for other bidders, difficult enough to produce steel at a profit in the UK when demand and prices are high, in the current economic climate I wouldn't hold my breath.

[uksomchai]

Believe me the Government fall for this type of blackmail every time. They are now saying they are running out of coke to keep the blast furnace running even though there are hundreds of thousands of tons if the stuff laying all over the site. I know because I have been moving it for the last several months. What the company wants is for the Government to scrap the green taxes on the energy they use to make the steel so they can compete on a level playing field and as said if SSI don't get it then the new buyers will get some sort of tax let off as all the previous buyers have.

My bet would be that the Chinese will move in and buy it as that gives them free access to the EU market without any tariffs.

If you are in the stocks market keep a look out as there is a killing to be had

[roamer]

Just announced plant to be "mothballed and 1700 jobs to go.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34377756

[Don Mega]

Believe me the Government fall for this type of blackmail every time.

You want a spoon to eat them words ?

[Loeilad]

Metal prices have plunged worldwide....the UK plant will be "mothballed" - this involves keeping the blast furnaces going so you can imagine that isn't cheap........and un-mothballing is a lengthy and costly process so not likely to happen either......

the Thai owners certainly don't give a shit about the ramifications to Teesiders, but then neither does the UK government - they never have time and again...I doubt if there are many tory seats up there so they don't really care.

!700 jobs plus all the ancillary jobs..........

All this stuff depends on China...regardless of what it looks like they still aren't buying metals like they used to.....

Even back in the early 70s Teesiders never asked "what do you do?", they always asked "are you working" such has been the vagaries of employment in that part of the country...........

Edited September 28, 2015 by Loeilad

[uksomchai]

Believe me the Government fall for this type of blackmail every time.

You want a spoon to eat them words ?

Nope just come from there after doing an 18 hour shift thanks

If you think it is all over you do not know the first thing about politics mate.

Firstly the blast has been in mothballs for months now so what has changed ?

When I left this morning all those I normally see were there as usual all still moaning as usual but there.

In the local rag they were warning about them running out of coke to keep the blast ticking over when there is hundreds of thousands of tonnes of the stuff everywhere on the site. But hey what to I know or my brother who as a contractor has been moving coal, coke and ores about the site for the last 20 odd years

I suppose then I may as well not bother turning in tonight as it will be a waste of time. When they ask why i will give them your name

Don Mega says it is all over now

[Don Mega]

Don Mega says it is all over now

Actually it was roamer that put up the link saying it is to be mothballed and 1700 laid off.

Good to hear the media is wrong and all is ticking over all peachy like though.

[uksomchai]

Metal prices have plunged worldwide....the UK plant will be "mothballed" - this involves keeping the blast furnaces going so you can imagine that isn't cheap........and un-mothballing is a lengthy and costly process so not likely to happen either......

the Thai owners certainly don't give a shit about the ramifications to Teesiders, but then neither does the UK government - they never have time and again...I doubt if there are many tory seats up there so they don't really care.

!700 jobs plus all the ancillary jobs..........

All this stuff depends on China...regardless of what it looks like they still aren't buying metals like they used to.....

Even back in the early 70s Teesiders never asked "what do you do?", they always asked "are you working" such has been the vagaries of employment in that part of the country...........

Written by someone who probably couldn't point to Redcar on a map.

The blast has been mothballed for months now already. You need to keep it a a certain temperature or it is kaput. Starting it up again takes a lot of both time and money. The whole region has been a Labour stronghold for decades yet they have done absolutely nothing for the area and all of the heavy industry it was once famous throughout the world is long gone. Killed by the unions and not the tories.

I happen to be working there on this trip home as my brother has had a haulage firm that is a contractor there for the last 20 odd years so know a little more than yourself regarding the plant. I will be back there tomorrow and for the foreseeable future at least till I return to LOS

[Loeilad]

Metal prices have plunged worldwide....the UK plant will be "mothballed" - this involves keeping the blast furnaces going so you can imagine that isn't cheap........and un-mothballing is a lengthy and costly process so not likely to happen either......

the Thai owners certainly don't give a shit about the ramifications to Teesiders, but then neither does the UK government - they never have time and again...I doubt if there are many tory seats up there so they don't really care.

!700 jobs plus all the ancillary jobs..........

All this stuff depends on China...regardless of what it looks like they still aren't buying metals like they used to.....

Even back in the early 70s Teesiders never asked "what do you do?", they always asked "are you working" such has been the vagaries of employment in that part of the country...........

Written by someone who probably couldn't point to Redcar on a map.

The blast has been mothballed for months now already. You need to keep it a a certain temperature or it is kaput. Starting it up again takes a lot of both time and money. The whole region has been a Labour stronghold for decades yet they have done absolutely nothing for the area and all of the heavy industry it was once famous throughout the world is long gone. Killed by the unions and not the tories.

I happen to be working there on this trip home as my brother has had a haulage firm that is a contractor there for the last 20 odd years so know a little more than yourself regarding the plant. I will be back there tomorrow and for the foreseeable future at least till I return to LOS

a profoundly ignorant reply. Firstly you simply reiterate just about everything i said and secondly I used to live there and I apparently know a lot more about the place than you do.

If you disagree with something I say, you might lay out a coherent argument rather than simply gainsaying - the fact that you actually seem to be agreeing with me makes your aggressive and ill-informed response all the more irksome.

[Briggsy]

It is now looking worse as there are reports money has been taken from employee's pension pots.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-34482160

Mods :

Could you change the title of this thread. It is unrelated, childish and misleading with reference to content.

[Briggsy]

Thank you for the improved title.

[Boo]

title changed.

[mariner16]

"I’m at the site with Joan Heggie, a research fellow at Teesside University and an expert on the region’s steel industry. She is furious at what she sees as the government’s shortsightedness in allowing the furnace to be shut down. “It’s just been turned off; it’s killed it. You can’t start coke ovens up again; you have to rebuild them. Once they’ve gone cold, they crack and disintegrate.” The pheasants from the adjoining marshlands can have the run of the place.

The Redcar plant’s history over the past 40 years has been tangled. British Steel sold it to the Dutch company Corus then to the Indian giant Tata. The latter mothballed it in 2010 before selling it to the Thai conglomerate SSI, which, faced with falling steel prices, has now liquidated the plant. “It’s such a waste of money,” says Heggie. “It cost the Thai company the best part of half a billion to get it working. They put a huge amount of money in, and that technology is now wasted. If this site never makes steel again, which is looking increasingly likely, then all this has to be properly dismantled in accordance with environmental regulations.” She reckons the final clean up bill could be £1bn – payable by the taxpayer as the company that owned the site has gone into liquidation."

Above taken from todays Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/27/life-after-steel-redcar-future-consett?CMP=fb_gu

All sounds very terminal to me, and where did the "half a billion" (GBP I assume) come from

[Don Mega]

The Guardian article is wrong. Uksomchai says so.

[Supaluke]

A lot of the SET listed Banks are taking a bath on this one.

Write down/written down, provisions for bad and doubtfull debts (what ever your local lingo is) is being reflected in the quarterly Bank updates.

I own a few in KTB and they have been heavily provisioning for this sad event.