A THAI firm expects to create at least 800 jobs at Teesside Cast Products (TCP), should its purchase of the facility go through.

Win Viriyaprapaikit, president of Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI), yesterday said he expected to create at least that number of roles should the £320m deal for Tata Steel’s mothballed plant in Redcar, east Cleveland, be completed as expected.

The jobs would be on top of the 700 steelworkers still employed at the facility, which Mr Viriyaprapaikit has previously confirmed would be kept on.

The move would take the plant close to its pre-mothballing level of employment.

Last week, Mr Viriyaprapaikit said SSI was in the final stage of completing the purchase and he was hopeful the deal could be completed in one to two months.

Once any acquisition of the plant is completed, it is expected to be operational again within about six months.

However hot-rolled steel coil prices, taken as an industry benchmark for steel prices, are presently at a high and yesterday Mr Viriyaprapaikit told Reuters news agency: “We’re doing the best we can to restart the Teesside plant sooner than September because the market is really tight right now.

“The faster we restart it, the faster we can benefit and create jobs there.”

Since the mothballing in February last year, more than 1,000 employees have left the plant.

Last night, TCP multi-union chairman Geoff Waterfield, welcomed Mr Viriyaprapaikit’s comments, but added that the numbers were roughly in line with what was previously required to run the facility.

He said: “I think he is being cautious, but sensible with the numbers. It is very hard to predict the exact numbers at this moment in time.

“The numbers that he is indicating are the numbers that would take us back to where we were before we mothballed.”

Last week, Mr Viriyaprapaikit said that SSI would look to further expand the capacity of the plant once any deal was completed.

Following a meeting with Climate Change Minister Greg Barker, SSI was assured that any expansion of the TCP site would not be hindered by EU carbon emissions rules, as it was recognised some energy intensive industries needed special treatment.