Production from South Yorkshire’s Speciality Steel plants in Rotherham and Stocksbridge has increased by 63% since they were acquired last year by global metals and industrials group Liberty House, which is part of GFG Alliance.

Jon Bolton, chief executive of Liberty Steels UK (www.libertyhousegroup.com), said that the business — now called Liberty Speciality Steels — has created 300 new jobs and boosted production of high-grade steels from 179,000 tonnes a year (in 2016/17) to 292,000 tonnes and is aiming to reach more than a million tonnes a year by 2020.

Mr Bolton said that the UK steel industry has a huge opportunity to reclaim its own home market, which is currently dominated by imports.

To become more competitive and sustainable, he said the industry needs to become ‘greener’, more innovative and more integrated within the manufacturing supply chain — and it needs to attract and train a new generation of talented young people.

Mr Bolton said that Liberty Speciality Steels is at the forefront of this new approach, under GFG Alliance’s Greensteel banner.

This is a low-carbon method of steel-making, recycling scrap metal using renewable energy and then manufacturing products closer to end users. “As CEO of Liberty Steel UK, I am proud to say we now employ over 3,000 people in UK steel production.

“Our Rotherham operation has 1.3 million tonnes of liquid steel-making capacity and our aim is to build nation-wide Greensteel production capacity of 5 million tonnes over the next few years.

“It’s exactly a year since Liberty acquired Speciality Steels, and what a year it has been, re-opening various assets including a furnace, a small bloom caster and a coil line so that we can ramp up production and increase sales into bar markets.”