SSI's UK Slab Mill Faces Uncertain Future, Executive Says
08/24/2015 - Falling demand and prices have plunged the future of SSI UK Ltd.’s integrated slab mill in Teesside, England, into doubt, an executive at the company has warned.
Cornelius Louwrens, U.K. business director and chief operating officer for SSI UK, a subsidiary of Thailand-based SSI, said slab prices have fallen from US$500 per metric tonne to below US$300 over the past year. And that, he said, is unsustainable, the BBC reported.
"You cannot make this size of losses continuously without, at some point, saying this cannot work any longer,” he said, according to the BBC.
"What I cannot say is how long we have for the market to turn around. But my message to everyone is to focus on their jobs, do them as good as possible, because this is what we can control."
SSI acquired the mill from Tata Steel, which had halted operations there in 2010. SSI has since invested about 1 billion pounds in restarting the mill.
"You cannot make this size of losses continuously without, at some point, saying this cannot work any longer,” he said, according to the BBC.
"What I cannot say is how long we have for the market to turn around. But my message to everyone is to focus on their jobs, do them as good as possible, because this is what we can control."
SSI acquired the mill from Tata Steel, which had halted operations there in 2010. SSI has since invested about 1 billion pounds in restarting the mill.
