Steel ready for export

The first steel slabs to leave the newly reopened SSI plant on Teesside will start being loaded up today before leaving for Thailand next week.

It comes less than a month after the blast furnace near Redcar was re-lit and the first slab was produced. It's another momentous day for the steelworks, which seemed doomed when it was mothballed in 2010 with the loss of more than 1000 jobs.

48,000 tonnes of steel slabs valued at around $30 million will leave Teesport on Tuesday.