Consultations have begun as Liberty Steel proposes to mothball its Scunthorpe Liberty Merchant Bar (LMB) plant.
The potential closure of the factory, which creates flat steel sections used in shipbuilding and car making, puts over 120 jobs at risk.
Liberty Steel’s chief transformation officer, Jeffrey Kabel, said that after restructuring and refocusing Liberty Steel’s UK operations over the last two years, to enable them to operate viably, the company have “explored every option to achieve the same” at Liberty Merchant Bar.
According to Kabel, however, a number of external factors have prevented this, including the high energy costs UK steel producers face, and the loss of third party gas supply to its furnaces. This has led to the proposed mothballing of the plant.
Kabel added that the company will look to retain critical skills and redeploy staff where possible.
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