DTI probes UK deals of steel fabricators

The Department of Trade and Industry is investigating Spanish, Italian and Irish steel fabricators working in the UK.

The UK contracts of Spanish steel fabricator Ensidesa, Italian contractors Cimolai and Berghini and Irish steel fabricator Butler have all been the subject of wide ranging investigations by the DTI's steel unit.

'We have been monitoring the contracts won by Italian and Spanish steel fabricators in the UK to find out if they have been won on the back of unfair steel subsidies,' said a DTI source. The unit has been investigating the links between fabricators Cimolai and Berghini and Italian steel producer Ilva. It has also been investigating the links between Spanish fabricator Ensidesa and its parent company Spanish steel producer CSI.

The Irish steel fabricator Butler is also being investigated. Butler was recently the recipient of a substantial grant from the Irish Government to build a steel factory in Ireland.

Butler has the steel contract on the Middlesbrough football stadium, Cimolai has the contract on the Second Severn Crossing and Ensidesa has the contract for the approach road to the Second Severn Crossing.

The unit will be taking its findings to the European Commission in May.