German-based international distributor Klockner has pulled out of the UK flats market with the main decoiling site in Tividale, West Midlands, closing in September, said a report citing sources.

The market has for some time been ablaze with suggestions ASD, which is owned by Klockner, is closing a number of sites and focusing on the rest of its general steel businesses in the UK.

The move was seen as inevitable after the company slashed hot rolled outsell prices to £365/metric ton from £400/mt, as according to Platts, a leading global provider of energy and commodities information.

“I understand ASD have announced they are closing Tividale from the end of September and are also closing Sheffield and Cambridge. We estimate Tividale uses 70,000 metric tons per year in the 3mm to 12mm range from two decoil lines,” a stockholder said.

Another stockholder said he heard from a staff member at the company who confirmed the information. “They’re closing in September this year. Ninety staff members will be losing their jobs though apparently 20 of those could be relocated to Dudley. They are pulling out of flat products; coil and plate,” he said.

He said the decoiling facilities at Tividale had been sold and all the processing equipment would move abroad.

A trading source said ASD had entered a 30 day consultation process but understood there had already been some redundancies.

He said the company would retain a stainless and aluminium site in Dudley and Organically Coated Steels (OCS), a specialist business unit. Another trader said the OCS business processed as much as 15,000 mt/year.

A trader who used to work for ASD added: "The decoiling business is going and there may be others to be announced on a smaller scale."-TradeArabia News Service