December 02, 2008

Corus to cut tinplate operations at Trostre tinplate works

TATA Corus plans to shed nearly 300 jobs at its tinplate operation in Llanelli on the weekend blaming the move on overcapacity in the global marketplace.

Corus began a formal 90 day consultation process with unions over the planned job losses, which the company said were aimed at making a sustainable position of the packaged steel operation at Trostre, which currently employs 751. Only last year the Trostre site announced 100 redundancies. As well as reducing its headcount, the plant will also scale down output of products, such as tinned cans, by 150,000 tonnes.

Corus could not confirm at this stage if it would need to seek compulsory redundancies. However, it will examine the option of offering affected staff jobs at other Corus plants in South Wales, including its heavy steel operation at Port Talbot, which is part of TATA Corus Strip Products division.

Mr Hugo Loudon MD of Corus Packaging Plus said that "It is after extensive consideration and with great sadness that we make this announcement. CPP has an excellent record of continuous improvement and it is despite the best efforts of our employees that we must take these measures.”

He added that “The European tinplate market continues to experience very difficult market conditions due to significant overcapacity. To ensure the longer-term viability of our packaging steels business we must take action to improve our operating results.”