Liberty steelworks in Newport reopens after two years

Production is restarting at Newport's Liberty Steel plant, two-and-a-half years after it was mothballed.

The 150 employees laid off on half pay in the summer of 2013 as new owners waited for market conditions to improve will now resume work.

The plant will produce about 50,000 tonnes of steel a month and hopes to double that output in future.

A UK government summit was being held in South Yorkshire on Friday to discuss problems in the industry.

Meanwhile, Tata is expected to announced 1,200 UK job cuts next week - chiefly at its Scunthorpe plant.

But the restart at the former Alphasteel plant, on the banks of the River Usk, is good news for an industry and area that recently saw hundreds of job losses at Tata in Llanwern.

Liberty will roll steel into coils that will be used in roads, bridges and other construction projects.

In the future, it also wants to reopen another part of the plant which melts down scrap metal to make steel products.

The plant has been through different ownerships and mixed fortunes since it opened 41 years ago.

International steel and metals group Liberty House bought it in 2013 and decided to keep workers on so they would be ready to restart when market conditions allowed.

Workers were not required to come to work and could be employed elsewhere during that time.

Liberty group managing director Sanjeev Gupta said: "We intend to buck the recent trend in the UK steel industry.

"The UK has the richest history in steel production in the world and production is viable here - what is needed is a lean, productive operation which is also agile and flexible and one that is able to adapt quickly to changes in the market."

The group also owns the Uskmouth power station - which will help it reduce energy costs - and the long-term plan is to turn the area into a renewable energy park.

The steel summit in Rotherham was called after a Commons debate last month and the loss of 2,200 jobs at Redcar on Teesside.

Economy Minister Edwina Hart, who attended the summit, said "jobs are in jeopardy" unless the UK government took "urgent action" to tackle high energy costs and cheap imports.

TIMELINE

1974: Swiss-Greek Alphasteel plant founded in Corporation Road, Newport, creating 200 jobs

1986: State-owned British Steel Corporation (BSC) takes over Alphasteel coils division with a view to closing it as part of plans to restructure the industry. BSC is eventually privatised

1998-2000: Strip mill set up on the site

2003: Taken over by Swiss-based Satico, linked to an Iranian tycoon for £40m. A £57m expansion plan is announced

2007: Alphasteel goes into administration in December, with 396 workers losing their jobs. It is followed by a legal battle over redundancy payments

2008: New Russian owners Libala buy plant for £57m

2010: Plant is renamed Mir Steel UK and production restarts with 80 workers in July with plans to take staff numbers to 140

2013: Raw material supplies to the plant stop. Business sold to India-based Liberty Commodities in July