Sanjeev Gupta calls for radical change to make the UK steel industry competitive again

Sanjeev Gupta, Executive Chairman of the Liberty House Group, has just posted a video calling for radical change to make the struggling UK steel industry competitive again. The script below gives more information and the video and full script can be accessed on: http://www.libertyhousegroup.com/news/liberty-urges-the-uk-to-embrace-greensteel-vision/

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Hello. My name is Sanjeev Gupta. I run Liberty House Group.


I’d like to address everyone out there who, like me, is concerned about the future of the UK Steel industry.
The current turmoil and uncertainty in our sector presents us with a significant challenge – one that we need to address in order to safe guard its future. But this challenge also provides us with a great opportunity to re-shape our industry so that can make it successful and profitable again.

What we need is new thinking, a fresh approach, an innovative strategy that can provide a much needed change from the current status-quo. My team and I have such a strategy and I’d like to share it with you.
What are the facts? We in Britain invented modern steel making, yet today a staggering 80% of the 21 million tonnes of steel and steel products we consume every year comes from abroad. A century and a half ago we were the first to mass produce mild steel; yet over time as our raw materials diminished other countries have taken the lead.

We should not be surprised by this - it is part of globalisation. It is our responsibility as an industrial nation to constantly re-define our capabilities to keep us current in a highly competitive market.  
Other countries – such as the United States in the 1980s – did take steps to remain competitive.
The Americans looked at all the steel that had already been produced. Buildings, bridges, cars - all ultimately re-cyclable. Then they supplemented their blast furnaces with arc furnaces, and today 70% of their steel consumption comes from recycled materials.
So why has recycling steel never taken root in the United Kingdom? Expensive power? Or lack of investment? Whatever the cause it has left us with over reliance on old technologies which force us to import 100% of our iron ore and coal for our blast furnaces and export the majority of our steel scrap to be re-melted in other countries so that we can buy it back again. What is more UK customers that want to buy UK steel find its price too high and are forced to  rely on imports.
It is clear that today our UK steel sector is in a precarious and unsustainable position with no viable long term future. We have two options - one path continues the status quo leading inevitably to a final demise. The other leads to a new industrial renaissance.
At Liberty, we have already made our choice. We have begun an ambitious process, designed to trigger the revival of UK manufacturing: re-growing UK steel and downstream engineering products, re-invigorating the supply chain, championing the development of new sustainable sources of power, generating tens of thousands of new skilled jobs, and stimulating new sectors in the economy.
Of course the UK will continue to need some blast furnaces. But what we need even more are electric arc furnaces, small mini-mills that can be dotted around the country, next to customers, powered by low cost carbon free electricity. These mini-mills will take in the mountain of scrap steel we produce every year (up to 20 million tonne in the next 2 decades) and turn them into a range of steels and steel products.
Our strategy for achieving it is called GREENSTEEL, and it has three elements.

• The first is to invest in electric arc furnaces alongside blast furnaces, and to begin to tackle the mountain of our own steel that we can recycle.

• The second is to invest in low cost long term renewable power, as close to the steel plants as possible.

• The third is to invest in engineering companies that use this steel and turn it into advanced components for existing and new UK based growth industries.

Liberty has an outstanding track record. In the last year we have revived 7 steel plants and re-employed over 1,500 workers. Our leadership team is composed of many of the industry’s leading executives. We have all the skills and the knowledge to to re-invent this industry.


In our view this is the only comprehensive, proven and sustainable holistic approach that will bring stability and growth to the UK Steel sector.


Thank you for listening.

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Plans unveiled for 2m tonne GREENSTEEL plant at Newport

Gupta Family Group Alliance companies, Liberty House and SIMEC, have unveiled major plans to turn their adjacent Newport sites into a two million tonne a year steel super-plant, powered by renewable energy.

It would be the first GREENSTEEL facility in the UK and would play a major part in a renaissance of the struggling sector by meeting up to 20% of current steel needs.

Newport’s key role at the forefront of a green revolution in UK steel was outlined to the city’s elected representatives during a fact-finding visit to Liberty’s 1.2m tonne a year rolling mill and SIMEC’s adjacent 396 megawatt Uskmouth Power Station.

Both Newport MPs, Jessica Morden and Paul Flynn, and Assembly Members, John Griffiths and newly-elected Jayne Bryant, were briefed on how the plants will help realise the vision for a sustainable steel sector, powered by renewable energy.

They met top management of SIMEC and who explained how the UK’s changing energy policies will help achieve the dual objective of reducing carbon emissions while making the UK steel sector competitive again.

Liberty executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta explained how the firm intends to install 2m tonnes of liquid steel-making capacity at Newport and almost double the existing rolling capacity at the site.

At the same time, as part of its GREENSTEEL strategy, SIMEC aims to power the steel plant by converting its existing coal-fired power-station to eco-friendly biomass generation. Longer term it will develop a centre of excellence for renewable energy that includes various forms of green power, including waste-to-energy and tidal lagoon power in the adjacent estuary.

All of this can provide low-cost, low-carbon fuel sources to power a steel industry which in turn can be made more competitive and sustainable through recycling and upcycling of Britain’s growing mountain of scrap. 

A recent University of Cambridge report predicted that the UK’s supply of scrap will rise from 10m to 20m tonnes a year within a decade. At present 70% of Britain’s scrap steel is melted abroad, because of high power prices, but melting at home instead would generate thousands of new jobs.

Following significant investments SIMEC reopened Uskmouth Power Station and Liberty restarted the adjacent steel rolling mill in 2015, both of which had been mothballed by previous owners.

At present the two sites employ over 200 people with plans for many hundreds more when SIMEC rolls out its energy park plan and Liberty recommences the melting of scrap steel at Newport. The Newport sites are part of the Liberty’s nationwide network employing a total of over 1,500 people, which also includes steel making and engineering facilities in Tredegar, the West Midlands and Scotland. 

Mr Gupta who co-hosted the visit with SIMEC’s Head of Energy, Industrials and Mining, Jay Hambro, said: “This was a very valuable opportunity to brief Newport’s elected representatives about our GREENSTEEL vision, which we believe will generate many new skilled jobs in the city and ultimately make a major difference to the whole UK steel and wider manufacturing sectors.

“Historically Newport has been one of the country’s most important steel-making locations so it’s very appropriate that this is the springboard for our GREENSTEEL plans. If we can make steel competitively in the UK, we can generate potentially hundreds of thousands of jobs in the manufacturing sector nationwide,” he added.

He explained that he and his colleagues wanted to create a major fully-integrated ‘end-to-end’ business which encompassed everything from green power, through liquid steel production, to steel processing and the manufacture and distribution of high-value steel products.

Mr Gupta added that Government support in removing carbon tax on power stations feeding steel plants, their backing for conversion of coal-fired stations to biomass and the green light for tidal lagoon power would give the steel industry and manufacturing a huge boost and a bright future.   

Jessica Morden, MP for Newport East which includes both Llanwern Steelworks and the SIMEC and Liberty plants said: “It was fantastic to visit SIMEC and Liberty Steel today to learn first-hand from Sanjeev about the GREENSTEEL programme which has huge potential for Newport, linking the steel plant with a biomass power station and tidal lagoon. This is very exciting for our area and for the steel industry.”

Further information from Eoghan Mortell 07977 555116

blogger@steelonthenet.com

Liberty House re-opens Tredegar steelworks in the UK

Liberty House will re-open yet another steelworks next month (June 2016) as it steps up its drive to transform the UK steel industry.

As part of its GREENSTEEL strategy, Liberty is set to re-start steel pipe and tube manufacturing at Tredegar in the South Wales Valleys, closed by administrators in 2015. This is the 7th British steelworks Liberty House has re-opened in as many months. Tredegar was inaugurated by Prince Charles in 1977.  A second production line was inaugurated there by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1978 and the heyday of this high-profile facility was in the 1980s and 1990s.

The re-opened plant will form the latest link in a British steel supply value chain Liberty is developing, that will encompass all stages of the process, using green energy to "upcycle" scrap steel from its melting through to the engineering of advanced products. Hot rolled coil for the plant will come from the rolling mill at nearby Liberty Steel Newport, itself re-started in October 2015, over two years after being mothballed.

Tredegar's output will replace some of the almost one million tonnes of steel tube currently imported into the UK each year for construction and manufacturing. The UK currently has one of the highest import dependency levels of this core product in the developed world. In preparation for the re-opening in June, the company has been re-contacting former workers from the plant. Tredegar will be expanding its range of products and is planning multiple training opportunities for young apprentices. The facility was part of the Caparo Industries group of steel and engineering companies rescued from administration by Liberty in November and December last year.

Several companies from the group are now thriving in the West Midlands, supplying a range of core and advanced products to automotive, aerospace and other‎ manufacturers. For example, last week Liberty Vehicle Technology's 920Engineering unit unveiled an industry-first fully-integrated parkbrake system, marketed to automotive OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) for high-spec vehicles.

Executive chairman of Liberty House, Sanjeev Gupta said: "Tredegar will once again supply steel tube domestically. This is great news for the UK steel industry and for skilled workers in South Wales. It is also another step in turning the tide for the UK's steel industry. Steel tube is a vital link in the supply chain and adds to the integration which is essential for the sector. 

"The steel ecosystem is at the heart of manufacturing, and the global oversupply of steel increases the need for the UK to refocus our industrial strategy around both reducing costs and adding value to steel. Without significant change we will lose the remaining cornerstone of manufacturing. Our plan is to restructure the sector around production efficiency, engineering integration, and innovation. Britain's outstanding skills, engineering and production knowledge and resources can re-invigorate the supply chain and bring about a new industrial renaissance."

Based on 25 years' experience in global steel markets, Liberty has developed its "GREENSTEEL"‎ vision for a clean, integrated and competitive UK steel industry, based on melting and upcycling the growing mountain of scrap in the UK.

According to a recent report from the University of Cambridge, the volume of recoverable steel emerging in the UK from sources ranging from scrap vehicles and household appliances to ageing Victorian infrastructure, is set to rise from 10m to 20m tonnes a year in the next decade. Around 70% of UK scrap generated is already exported for melting abroad, a far higher proportion than competitor countries. This is expected to increase substantially unless the UK builds high-tech recycling facilities to recover this resource.

Mr Gupta called for the development of a national strategy for the creation of a sustainable manufacturing base in the UK. "This is much bigger than steel. Resolving the steel crisis opens the door to the rejuvenation of manufacturing and making a host of high-value goods in this country. Government and industry need to agree a road map that contains a consistent approach to all the vital ingredients: competitive energy, competitive raw materials, innovation, skills, and an investment-friendly environment. The only way to stand up to the forces of globalization is with a value-adding game plan."

Andrzej M Kotas, MBA

Managing Director

Metals Consulting International Limited

Website: www.steelonthenet.com