The South Australian Premier, Peter Malinauskas, has announced there are now at least 33 parties interested in acquiring the Whyalla Steelworks, the majority of them based overseas. Previously, KordaMentha, the administrator to the steelworks, had said there were up to 12 interested parties. “If you had said to me back in February – when we made that major intervention to remove GFG Alliance and put the steelworks on the path to new ownership – that we’d be in the position we are in now, I would have taken it in a second,” Mr Malinauskas said in a statement. “We, of course, have got a long way to go before we are able to sell the steelworks to new ownership and set it up for the future. But to have had the interest that we’ve already had, for much of that interest to come from major global steelmakers, many of whom are getting together in consortia, is actually really good news to ensure that we’re on the right trajectory to set this place up for the long-term future,” he added. Mr Malinauskas did not name the global companies involved, but said the interested parties were from India, Japan and Korea. The South Korean steel giant, POSCO, has been mooted as a potential buyer.

Likewise, Australia´s BlueScope Steel had previously been linked to a potential takeover.

OneSteel Manufacturing, the parent company of the steelworks, was placed into administration by the South Australian Government in February of this year. OneSteel Manufacturing is a subsidiary of GFG Alliance, a worldwide conglomerate of mainly steel enterprises privately owned by the British industrialist, Sanjeev Gupta. The day after the steelworks entered administration, the Federal Government and the South Australian Government jointly announced a $2.4 billion rescue package to save the iconic steelmaking operation from going bust and to prepare it for sale. In late June, Mr Malinauskas said a secure data room had been set up for prospective buyers to conduct due diligence on purchasing the steelworks and its associated mines. The South Australian state budget in June revealed another $384 million had been set aside for KordaMentha to keep the steelworks running until it found a buyer. This amount is on top of an initial $384 million allocated when it took over the steelworks in February. The Premier said a sale in the second half of 2026 “…probably looks about right. Of course, if it was sooner than that we would welcome it”.

In late June, the new general manager of operations at the Whyalla Steelworks, Amrit Mangat, said “What happens at the steelworks and our associated iron ore mines significantly dictates what happens in Whyalla and the community”. Mr Mangat said his focus is therefore on stabilising and improving the operations so as to build a strong and sustainable future for it. However, since entering administration, there has been much speculation about whether the Whyalla Steelworks has any sort of viable future at all; and whether the Australian taxpayer should be funding its preparation for sale. Two key criticisms of the facility are that it is geographically isolated and simply no longer fit for purpose, being too rundown.  A further point has been made by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a non-profit, non-partisan, global organisation which provides evidence-based information for investment and policy decisions. It says that, regardless of whether the new owner is based in Australia or overseas, Whyalla can and must be a key part of South Australia’s shift towards truly green iron and steel. IEEFA´s lead steel analyst, Simon Nicholas, says “The South Australian government must ensure developments under the new owner are fully aligned with its Green Iron and Steel Strategy. You can’t make green steel with gas”.  IEEFA´s mission is to accelerate the transition to a diverse, sustainable and profitable energy economy.

To other news, several Australian subsidiaries of GFG Alliance are following a path similar to the one which saw steel magnate, Sanjeev Gupta, prosecuted in 2024 over his alleged failure to file accounts in the UK for more than of his 70 companies. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has said it is pursuing Liberty Primary Metals Australia, Liberty Bell Bay and Tahmoor Coal in the Supreme Court of NSW. Liberty Primary Metals was the ultimate Australian parent company of the Whyalla Steelworks until February when it went into administration for failing to pay tens of millions of dollars in royalty payments to the government, and millions in unpaid bills to creditors. Tahmoor Coal is a coal mining operation in NSW which has been shut down since February after failing to pay its suppliers. Liberty Bell Bay is a manganese smelter in Tasmania’s north which announced last month it would enter a period of limited operations due to ore supply issues. ASIC said Liberty Primary Metals Australia and Tahmoor Coal failed to lodge annual reports for the 2024 financial year; while Liberty Bell Bay has failed to lodge any financial reports with the regulator since 2021.

Finally, it´s widely anticipated that the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut its official cash rate when it meets on July 9, thus lowering interest rates. A reduction of 25 basis points is the minimum expected. If it comes, it will be welcomed by an Australian economy which is holding up fairly well in the face of Donald Trump´s tariffs-induced global trade chaos. Headline inflation has now eased to 2.1% and underlying inflation is at its lowest for three years. A key driver of inflation had been the housing sector, particularly the cost of building, with its attendant impact on steel consumption. Construction inflation reached almost 22% in July 2022 and was still at 4.9% in May last year. But it has now tumbled to 0.8%, its lowest rate in five years, as builders offer incentives and promotions to woo new customers. Meanwhile, the Australian stock market has been hitting record highs in the past few weeks. On July 2 alone, stocks of building materials maker, James Hardie, rose more than 5%, while South32 was also up 5% and BlueScope Steel gained 4.7%. It´s all very encouraging at present: but wait until the impact of Donald Trump´s tariffs flow through to the global economy in the second half of this calendar year.