STEELMAKER Corus last night announced the first phase of a £55.5m investment in its Teesside subsidiary.

An initial £12m is being invested at Teesside Cast Products (TCP), which employs about 1,700 people in the region, to improve its efficiency, making it more competitive on a global scale.

Corus set up TCP as a stand-alone steel slab maker after announcing in 2003 that Teesside would have to find its own market for the steel.

It was part of chief executive Philippe Varin's overhaul to bring the group back into the black after five years of heavy losses.

Last year, TCP signed a deal with four global steel companies, to secure steelmaking on Teesside for ten years. Under the agreement, the companies will take 74 per cent of slab output from Redcar and Lackenby over the next decade.

The consortium is made up of Dongkuk, of South Korea, Duferco, of Switzerland, Mexican company Imsa and Italian strip products business Marcegaglia. Corus will also continue to take some of the slab.

All four companies agreed to help invest part of the £55m into TCP's plant, to meet their specific requirements.

A TCP spokeswoman said the first phase of the money will be spent on efficiency improvements, such as reusing some of the leftover by-products from creating the steel.

She stressed that there were no job implications as a result of the investment.

Jon Bolton, managing director of Teesside Cast Products, said: "This is excellent news for TCP and demonstrates the committment of our consortium partners and Corus to the business and to production at Teesside."

TCP makes about 3.3m tonnes of slab a year.

The agreement with the consortium last December helped secure the jobs of more than 6,000 of the region's workers - directly and indirectly employed by the steelmaker.

Rising steel prices have meant the products made at TCP are in demand, but even if demand falls, it is hoped the improved plant would survive in the long-term.