Corus has already announced 12,000 job losses in the UK

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt, is visiting the Corus plant at Redcar on Friday.

In April, the Anglo-Dutch company which employs almost 3,000 people on Teesside, said they no longer required the slab steel the plant manufactures.

But Ms Hewitt said she had been heartened by the firm's pledges of faith in the industry in Britain.

Tony Poynter, from the ISTC steel union on Teesside, said "I think today the Secretary of State's visit is another important step in trying to ensure that Teesside does remain a major steelmaking community.

"The trade unions, Corus management and our MPs will get the opportunity, for the first time, to jointly discuss with the government minister the proposals to turn Teesside works into a slab producer to the world market."

The Teesside operation makes raw steel in slab form for processing into finished products in other plants.