Corus has announced additional measures to build on the restructuring programme the company revealed in January.

The company will hold consultations on a series of further job reductions, blaming the global economic downturn and, in particular, the decline in steel demand in Europe and the USA.

Corus states that 2,045 jobs are at risk. The majority (1,500) of these are in production facilities — about 800 at the UK engineering steels sites, mainly Rotherham and Stocksbridge; about 370 in Corus Tubes in the UK and The Netherlands; and about 375 at UK downstream rolling and finishing plants. The company is also opening consultations on 500 UK-based white-collar jobs throughout the Corus Long Products division, most at Scunthorpe.

Company CEO Kirby Adams says, ‘We have to achieve long-term, sustainable competitiveness in a global and over-supplied steel market and are determined to do so by focusing on the quality of the products and services we offer our customers’.

For further information, see the Corus website.