NO-ONE in Gwent wants to speculate about the future of its already decimated steel industry, because they don't wish to think the unthinkable.

But the economic problems which led to wholesale job cuts by Corus this year at its Llanwern steelworks and the closure of the Ebbw Vale works are still with us. They forced yesterday's meetings at Llanwern at which staff were told that it is crunch time again.

The message was clear - Corus cannot go on sustaining financial losses. Since there is not much sign of a change in the trading conditions which have resulted in those losses, the implications are equally clear.

Corus recorded a loss of £237 million for the half-year to June 29 despite having taken measures to remedy matters in a sector uncertain about how the global economy will perform.

The company is frantically attempting to cut costs further and make money by selling assets and concentrating on carbon steel production. It has sold aluminium smelters and its stainless steel stake in Avesta-Polarit. Significantly, perhaps, it has abandoned plans to merge with Brazilian steel company CSN.

Yesterday it announced the re-location of its Whitehead's special steel operation at Newport to Llanwern with the loss of 20 of its 105 jobs and a £4 million investment using existing Llanwern processes.

This was meant to be good news for everyone bar those who will lose their jobs. But others see it in a more gloomy context.

Steelmaking ended at Llanwern this year. It now imports steel slabs, which are melted and rolled into coiled strip. Around 1,500 workers remain at the site.

Ken Penton, spokesman for the ISTC union, said Corus was still trading in difficult times because the strength of the pound was making it difficult to sell its products abroad when competing with cheap imports.

"At the same time I think this is a genuine attempt by the company to say that everyone is in this together," he said. "But it must be done by everyone right up to top management. We have met Corus and the government, saying our members are working their socks off, and we expect this from the company right to the top.

"We are being vigilant but we don't think there is a need to be alarmist."