British Steel has announced that 20 jobs are to go at its Lisburn steel distribution subsidiary, BSD Northern Ireland. The company, which employs 120 people, said that any compulsory redundancies would be kept to a minimum but that the decision to reduce staffing levels had become necessary following an efficiency review at the plant. The cuts will be made across the board, in sales, administration, operations, and in the galvanising process. In a statement, the company said that improved systems were making "a considerable impact on steel processing and distribution.

"While this is now being translated by BSD Northern Ireland into substantial benefits to customers," the statement said, "regrettably some workforce reduction has been an inevitable consequence of this process."