Tata Steel Ltd plans to axe as many as 3,000 jobs across its European operations to cut costs in the latest blow to the region’s industry, with the move coming amid a heated general election campaign in the UK.
About two-thirds of the reductions would be office-based staff, the company said in a statement.
Tata Steel — which has steelmaking facilities in the UK and the Netherlands, as well as other manufacturing operations — did not give a detailed breakdown of where the job losses would be made.
Photo: EPA-EFE
STAGNANT DEMAND
“Stagnant EU steel demand and global overcapacity have been compounded by trade conflicts, which have turned the European market into a dumping ground for the world’s excess steel capacity,” Mumbai-based Tata Steel said.
The European steel industry has faced growing headwinds this year amid declining demand, slowing economic growth and the consistent threat of overseas supplies, including exports from Turkey, Russia and China.
British Steel Ltd, the UK’s No. 2 steelmaker was put into liquidation in May, and is to be sold to China’s Jingye Group Co (敬業集團).
Apparent demand in the EU is forecast to contract 3.1 percent this year, lobby group Eurofer said last month.
The steelmaker’s European operations are facing conditions that are “unprecedented,” Tata Steel in Europe CEO Henrik Adam said.
Other steps to improve performance include boosting sales of higher-value steels, aiding efficiency and cutting procurement costs.
Tata Steel Europe’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization sank 90 percent to ￡31 million (US$40.15 million) in the first six months of the current fiscal year, which started in April, on revenue of ￡3.25 billion, according to the statement.
The job cuts and other moves target positive cash flow by the end of the year to March 2021.
‘DIFFICULT MARKET’
“Europe remains a difficult market, but this is how they can deal with the challenges there,” said Amit Dixit, an analyst at Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd in Mumbai, citing problems also faced by peers, including ArcelorMittal.
“The market will likely react to this proposal in a hugely positive way,” Dixit said.
In a measure of the challenge facing local mills, steel production in the EU slumped in August to the lowest since the financial crisis amid a record jump in imports.
The bloc’s output dropped to 11.45 million tonnes that month, the lowest level since 2009, World Steel Association data showed.
ArcelorMittal, the world’s top steelmaker, this month said that European steel consumption would drop by up to 3 percent this year, the most since 2012.
Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine AG has also been lowering its profit outlook as the industry downturn spreads.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS