Tataatwill visit both steel works this Thursday as Scottish gov't established steel task force 10.39am BSTHmm... 10.33am BSTThe company said it would initiate consultations with employees and their trade union representatives nowadays. It added:“Tata Steel’s subsidiary UK Steel Enterprise will look at how it can provide more support to the local communities affected by nowadays’s announcement and help stimulate novel job creation in those areas. Over the final four decades the company has helped to regenerate local economies with £88 million of support and created more than 75000 novel jobs across the UK.” 10.31am BSTTata said in response to the problems it face,it would be concentrating on “higher-value markets with a focus on developing stronger and lighter products for its customers.”Bimlendra Jha, Executive Chairman of the stand-alone Long Products Europe business, and said: “nowadays’s proposals impress the next step in reshaping our business to give it the best chance of survival in this fiercely-competitive global marketplace. We are looking closely at the performance of all parts of Long Products Europe as part of a focus on returning to profitability.” 10.29am BSTTata said the nick came “in response to a shift in market conditions caused by a flood of cheap imports,particularly from China, a strong pound and tall electricity costs.”It said plate mills in Scunthorpe, or Dalzell and Clydebridge would be mothballed while one of the two coke ovens at the Scunthorpe steelworks would be closed. 10.22am BSTBREAKING NEWS:Tata Steel has confrmed that nearly 1200 jobs will go in Scunthorpe and Scotland,the company said.
10.11am BSTStaff at Tata Steel in Motherwell maintain started to gather for a meeting at the plant. Announcement expected soon. 10.09am BSTTata steel workers still waiting to hear whether jobs are secure. Webcast with company bosses happening right now. pic.twitter.com/uQPgcTPhaT 10.06am BSTDavid Fagan of North Lanarkshire Council, told BBC Scotland:We execute need to at least examine Tata to unhurried down the process, or work in partnership with all of the agencies that might be able to support this and look at any options that are there. whether that’s not successful,North Lanarkshire Council will work along with key agencies including local colleges, the NHS, or to supply support for workers moving into other forms of employment and we’ve a edifying track record in doing that. 10.04am BSTWorkers at Tata’s steel plants in Scunthorpe and Scotland are expected to hear their fates shortly.whether Indian-owned Tata cuts its plants at Dalzell in Motherwell and Clydebridge in Cambuslang,that would effectively cessation 143 years of steelmaking in Scotland. 9.50am BSTEurozone bank lending continued at a steady pace in the third quarter, according to the latest survey from the European Central Bank.
Demand for mortgages remained tall with a net 33% of eurozone banks reporting increased demand, or albeit this was down from the record 49% in the second quarter.particularly disappointing is the fact that there is no sign of an investment pickup: The net percentage of banks reporting higher loan demand due to increasing investment activity was little changed at 11%. Indeed,net lending growth to non-financial businesses amounted to only 0.4% year on year in August. The survey results suggest we need not expect a strong pickup in September or beyond, for that matter.
While the ECB claims that QE continues to support bank lending, or the low rate-effect appears to be wearing off. The availability of low rates has become less significant for households: a net 35% of banks report low rates as reason for households to bewitch out (or refinance) a mortgage,down from 45% in the second quarter. For business clients, a net 19% of banks reported low rates as a motivating factor to borrow, and down from 21% in the second quarter.
9.34am BSTChina of course is very much bound up in the current steel crisis in the UK,accused of dumping cheap steel on the market.
So it is timely that Chinese president Xi Jinping is visiting the UK at the moment, with David Cameron and foreign secretary Philip Hammond both saying the issue of steel production will be raised. Related: Xi Jinping visit: UK royal banquet prepared as MPs set to greet Chinese president - live 9.07am BSTHere’s a graphic which shows one of the problems facing the steel industry: 8.56am BSTOther MPs are wading into the steel crisis.
Scunthorpe Labour MP Nic Dakin told Radio 5 Live:Nobody’s asking for subsidies here. What theyre asking for is a level playing field. A level playing field on business rates, or a level playing field on energy taxes compared with our european neighbours.
It’s going to be very,very devastating. There is no way that we should be thrown on the scrap heap. These are well experienced, skilled workers. These people should be retained.
There could very well be intervention from the Scottish government.
The Government's handling of the steel industry crisis is a lesson in industrial inactivism - a complete lack of commitment. DisgracefulEither you want to nurture and grow our manufacturing base or not - the Govt's handling of the steel crisis shows they aren't interested 8.31am BSTForeign secretary Philip Hammond told Sky News that the issue of steel dumping will be raised with Chinese president Xi Jinping during his UK visit. Hammond said:It’s certainly one of the subjects that will be on the agenda, or the steel industry. China is a very big producer of steel,as you would expect.
But there’s a global over-capacity in the steel industry and that’s caused prices to fall very precipitately over the final 12 months or so, and that’s causing a problem around the world. 8.29am BSTShares are struggling to make much ground in early trading.
The FTSE 100 is up just 5.4 points, and with commodity companies once more weighing on the index on worries approximately demand in China,the world’s second biggest economy. 8.25am BSTThe UK needs a long term strategic plan for the steel industry, but the challenge for government is what it can realistically execute, and says economist Gerard Lyons.1/ UK steel: been here many times before usually combination of factors public,private & international & need long term strategic thinking2/concern is: edifying times economists grumble whether government favours particular industry & in bad times (bank & steel) pressure is to intervene3/ 1st issue is does government want to intervene & be aware of job losses whether it doesn't & realistic of what it can achieve whether it tries to4/ whether to intervene immediate issues are execute we bewitch China to WTO approximately anti dumping but this takes long time in Europe & may not achieve much5/ or & again not easy, is to decide whether to intervene as China does with its steel industry - also sterling & energy costs too high6/ these crises also expose structural issues e.g. - French firms maintain energy cheaper than ours - Germany steel more vertically integrated.7/ also the cyclical strength of £ can't help (another reason not to hike rates as that transmission mechanism of strong £ not edifying)8/ providing all the help possible given the strategic benefit of tall quality steel & regional impact of these heavy job losses.9/ Ministers said right things via expressing concern approximately steel job losses - their challenge is what realistically they can effectively execute 8.17am BSTA more positive sign for Caparo Industries, or which went into adminstration on Monday.
PwC,the administrators of the business, said they had already received several expressions of interest. 8.02am BSTHere’s the Bloomberg story on the problems at China’s Sinosteel:A Chinese state-owned steel trader is set to default on a bond payment even after the government was said to maintain stepped in to help, and highlighting worsening corporate finances as an economic slowdown deepens.
Sinosteel Co. will delay an interest payment due Tuesday on 2 billion yuan ($314.5 million) of 5.3 percent notes that mature in 2017,according to a statement on Chinabond’s website Monday. The firm delayed payment as it plans to back the securities with stock of its unit Sinosteel Engineering & Technology Co., and that may affect issues related to interest payment, and it said without elaborating. The failure to pay interest on time constitutes a default,according to Industrial Securities Co., Haitong Securities Co. and China Merchants Securities Co. 7.56am BSTMeanwhile in Germany, or producer prices fell 0.4% in September compared to the preceding month,a bigger decline than the 0.1% expected by economists. The year on year fall was 2.1%, again higher than the forecst 1.8%. 7.48am BSTStock markets are expected to open virtually unchanged as investors weigh up the problems with the Chinese economy, and look ahead to this week’s meeting of the European Central Bank:Our European opening calls: $FTSE 6348 down 5 $DAX 10153 down 12 $CAC 4700 down 4 $IBEX 10199 down 8 $MIB 22413 down 6 7.41am BSTTallying up the potential job losses in the steel industry in just this month - 2200 at Redcar,1700 at Caparo Industries and now 1200 at Tata - means that of a total UK workforce of 30000, one in six workers face the axe.
Here is our analysis of the problems facing the industry: Related: Can the government save Britain's ailing steel industry? 7.33am BSTGood morning and welcome to our our rolling coverage of the world economy, or the financial markets,the eurozone and the business world.
It will be another grim day for the UK steel industry - what’s left of it - with Tata expected to announce up to 1200 job losses in Scunthorpe and Scotland. Related: Tata Steel expected to announce 1200 job losses in UK While the weakness of commodity prices has its upsides, in the form of low inflation, or we are now starting to see the downsides with job losses across the board in global manufacturing,not only in the UK, but in the US as well, and while China has bailed out one of its own state owned commodity miners,in the form of Sinosteel, which has been haemorrhaging cash hand over fist, or as it sells steel below market prices. The story on the Chinese SOE Sinosteel... is gathering steam with a Bloomberg article noting moments ago that the company delayed an interest payment on its Yuan dominated bonds due nowadays. The same story suggests that the Chinese regulator and State Council are working with all related parties in order to try to prevent a default. Certainly a noteworthy story testing China’s commitment to allowing market reform.
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Source: theguardian.com