UK TiO2 producer accused of ‘betrayal’ as 270 jobs lost days after China deal

UK TITANIUM dioxide (TiO2) producer Venator Materials has cut more than 270 jobs after placing the business into administration. The news comes just days after a deal was struck to sell one of its idle plants in northeast England to Chinese TiO2 producer LB Group.

A total of 273 workers have been laid off across sites in the villages of Wynyard and Greatham in County Durham, as well as at a site in Birtley near Newcastle. A further 232 jobs have been retained to support the administration process.

Financial pressures at Venator first emerged in early September when administrators were appointed to its non-trading parent company. Mark Firmin, of Alvarez & Marsal, who was co-appointed to oversee Venator, said the company had been “severely impacted by increased competition and rising costs in recent months”.

However, the latest decision came as a shock to many. Last week, Venator managing director Karen Askwith said the deal to sell the idle Greatham plant reflected “LB Group’s confidence in the site’s expertise, operational strength and the value it brings to the TiO2 industry”. LB Group also stated its intention to restart operations at Greatham, which manufactured TiO2 products, a common white pigment, for coatings and plastics.  

Fazia Hussain-Brown, regional officer at Unite the Union, accused Venator of “betrayal”. She said: “Our members at Greatham and Wynyard have had the rug pulled from under by Venator. Unite has committed to working with Venator to support workers during the transition to the new ownership and instead, without warning, it has placed itself into administration and potentially destroyed the jobs of over 230 workers.

“This is a cynical move and Unite will be supporting our members over the next few days as the picture becomes clearer of what this betrayal looks like.”

Askwith said: “We recognise the impact this decision has had and it is not one we have taken lightly. However, given the prolonged downturn in the TiO2 industry and the financial pressures we face, administration is the most responsible path forward. It allows us to preserve value and create the conditions necessary for a potential future recovery under new ownership.”

Venator’s administrators are currently looking for bidders to take control of the remaining business, which employs 2,249 people globally across the UK, US and France. Prior to insolvency in September, Venator’s holding company was listed on the UK stock market.

Chinese treatments

The Venator news comes at a challenging time for UK process industries, particularly in the chemicals and minerals sectors of northeast England, where several recent plant scale-backs have been attributed to competition from China.

Last week, developers of a rare earth minerals mine in Angola scrapped plans to build a refinery at the Saltend Chemicals Park in Hull and moved the investment to the US. UK-based Pensana said that the US was more economically attractive as it positions itself as a counterbalance to artificially low rare earth prices from China.

Pensana chairman Paul Atherley said that the £5m (US$6.7m) government investment into Saltend in 2022 as part of the UK’s critical minerals strategy was “nowhere near enough” when compared to the US$500m deal struck between the US government and MP Materials in July. The deal will see the Department of War (formerly the Department of Defense) become the majority shareholder in a rare earths mine in California.

Earlier this month, chemicals giant INEOS announced plans to cut 20% of its workforce at its acetyls plant at Saltend, citing “dirt-cheap” imports from China as the reason for the 60 job losses. The announcement came as part of a wider wave of plant closures across Europe.