LONDON - Indian steel giant Tata Steel (IW 1000/196) said Monday it will cut 1,050 more jobs in Britain following thousands of cuts in the industry announced last year, blaming China for plunging steel prices.
Tata Steel is planning to cut 750 jobs at its Port Talbot site in Wales and 300 more at other plants around the country.
"The proposed changes follow continued falls in the European steel price caused by a flood of cheap imports, particularly from China," the company said.
Tata Steel has 4,000 people at Port Talbot, which also employs 3,000 contractors and temporary workers.
Karl Koehler, chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations, said the cuts were "unsettling... but critical in the face of extremely difficult market conditions" and called on the European Union to tackle cheap imports.
"We need the European Commission to accelerate its response to unfairly traded imports," he said. "Not doing so threatens the future of the entire European steel industry."
Britain's steel sector is in crisis and there have been thousands of layoffs in recent months, with companies blaming high energy costs along with cheap Chinese imports.
Steel union Community said the news was "yet another chapter of the UK's ongoing steel crisis and the lack of a proper government response."
"The dumping of cheap Chinese steel is one of the biggest causes of this crisis, yet the UK government remains a cheerleader for China and their bid for 'market economy status', which would decimate what is left of our steel industry. This cannot be allowed to happen," said general secretary Roy Rickhuss.
Tata Steel in October announced 1,200 job cuts in Britain.
It also said in December that it was in talks with investment fund Greybull Capital to sell some of its European assets, employing a total of 4,700 people.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2016
