'Lack of will and ambition' is preventing respite for the British steel industry, Sheffield boss says

When I last saw the chairman of Sheffield Forgemasters in October, Tata Steel had just announced 1200 job cuts, Tony Pedder told me his staff were safe, that the company was muddling through.

This morning Sheffield Forgemasters has announced a loss of £9.4 million (it's first since a management buyout in 2005) and its intention to lay off 100 people - one tenth of the workforce.

Sheffield Forgemasters makes highly engineered steel products, it sits apart from the "slab" and "sheet" mass-market.

Cheap steel from China isn't Sheffield's problem, the company doesn't trade in that space but China's slowdown has started to cause it problems.

Watch Joel's latest report on China's slowdown below:

Sheffield Forgemasters has been hit by the fallout from the collapse in commodity prices, oil and steel prices in particular.

Investment in the North Sea has dried-up, so have defence contracts. The refurbishment of steel and power plants were a large part of the order book, here too activity has evaporated.

The economics of steel are tough but once again a finger is being pointed at government policy: the high cost of energy bills, the burden of business rates (an unpopular tax the government refuses to cut).

Tony Pedder believes there are things the government could be doing to help provide respite for British steel-makers but he told me there's "a lack of will, a lack of ambition".