Bhp Reduces Steel Output At Whyalla
The Age
Thursday January 28, 1999
BHP yesterday told workers it would shut down 70,000 tonnes of production at its Whyalla steel mills as part of its reconfiguration of its steel-making facilities in Australia.
The move has been brought forward due to the worldwide downturn in the steel industry. But a BHP spokesman at Whyalla confirmed that the production would not be required once the steel group had transferred steel-making production from Newcastle to its Whyalla plant.
BHP late last year trimmed iron-making production at Whyalla and its main steel-making facility at Port Kembla by about 6per cent as demand for steel overseas fell.
The latest cut represents about 15 per cent of Whyalla's current steel output of 470,000 tonnes a year, and will involve the loss of about 70 positions. BHP said all workers would be provided with jobs elsewhere in the steel group, or they could accept voluntary redundancy packages.
About half of Whyalla's output is usually directed to export markets, but BHP believes the export market will continue to weaken as Japanese, Russian and South Korean steelmakers are forced to redirect product intended for the US into other regions.
Under the BHP steel reconfiguration, which involves the closure of Newcastle's steel-making plant in September, Whyalla will supply Newcastle with steel billets from a new $80 million billet caster.
Whyalla's output then will be limited to supplying BHP Steel's domestic customers and the processing facilities at Newcastle.
``At this stage, we see there will be no signs that the weakened Asian markets are going to improve in the near future," the spokesman said.
``We do not see ourselves as restoring that 70,000 tonnes per year production once we have gone through the transition (of restructuring) and focused on Newcastle."
Whyalla comprises a blast furnace and continuous slab caster.
BHP shares yesterday lost 11 cents, or 0.93 per cent, to close at $11.77. They traded between $11.71 and $12.08 in a generally firmer market.
© 1999 The Age
