METAL workers will be chasing a share of a 20 million-tonne steel market in an effort to save jobs, a business delegation has been told.

Management at Corus's North-East operations has assured the North-East Chamber of Commerce there are opportunities for future growth that would keep plants in the region open.

But staff will be pushed to work more economically and there will be an expectation on suppliers to economise to enable Corus to offer its products as cheaply as possible. But union leaders were concerned that suppliers' costs were already pared to the bone.

Plants on Teesside supply about 200,000 tonnes of steel to European markets. Analysts have told Corus there is a 20 million-tonne market. Rob McMullen, Teesside area manager at the chamber, said the delegation led by chief executive George Cowcher was reassured by what they were told.

"Corus do seem to be thinking through and planning a future for Teesside, and are developing appropriate management skills and structures to ensure that the growing global market that there is for these products is successfully entered," he said.

Mick Mannion of the ISTC said: "Corus management needs to look at itself first. The new chief executive will pick up £1.7m and even if he makes a mess of it he then receives pay of two years' wages.

"It is fat-cattery gone mad. It is no way to run a business."