A major steel group operating in the UK has announced it will stop production at its site in Newport, in South Wales as a result of soaring energy costs.

Liberty Steel’s new business restructuring plan is expected to put nearly 440 jobs at risk.

The company has also unveiled its intention to reduce production at its Rotherham, Scunthorpe and Dalzell plants as an “interim measure” to mitigate the impact of “uncompetitive” energy costs.

It said: “Despite the injection of £200 million of shareholder capital over the last two years, the production of some commodity-grade products at Rotherham and downstream mills has become unviable in the short term due to high energy costs and imports from countries without the same environmental standards.”

Liberty Steel has also announced the transformation of Liberty Performance Steel West Bromwich into a sales and distribution hub.

Jeffrey Kabel, Chief Transformation Officer for Liberty Steel Group said: “Refocusing our operations will set the right platform for Liberty Steel UK’s high-quality manufacturing businesses to adapt quickly to challenging market realities.

“While our action is expected to regrettably impact the roles of some of our workforce we will provide a level of guaranteed salary and out placement opportunities through our unique Workforce Solutions programme as an alternative to redundancy.”