Concerned about govt support for electric arc furnace (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - London, 11 Jun - The Indian steelmaker Tata Steel confirmed that it will continue with the announced closure of blast furnaces at Port Talbot, and asked the UK government to "adhere to and safeguard" the terms of a 500 million pound support package to build an electric arc furnace (EAF) at the site.

"Over the last three years, Tata Steel, part of India's Tata Group, one of the UK's largest private sector investors, and the UK Government have worked hard to develop a sustainable future for Tata Steel UK and the Port Talbot Plant," Tata Steel said in a statement.

"We are therefore apprehensive reading UK media reports suggesting that the 1.25 billion pound investment, the largest in many decades in British steelmaking, may be put in peril due to policy differences expressed by the Conservative and Labour parties, during the ongoing election period. We urge and request the current and the incoming government post-elections, to adhere to and safeguard the agreed terms of the 500 million pound package of support for the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) project announced in September 2023. This project has been developed to ensure the production of low-emission high-quality steel in Port Talbot, preserving steelmaking in Britain and creating the potential for a future green manufacturing cluster in South Wales," it said.

Tata Steel has indicated that it would cut up to 2,800 jobs in the UK as it closes the two Port Talbot blast furnaces this year. The first is set to be shuttered by the end of this month and the second in September.

"The current heavy-end assets of Port Talbot are nearing their end of life, are operationally unstable, and are resulting in unsustainable financial losses. The coke ovens, a critical facility for primary steelmaking, had to be closed in March 2024, as operations became infeasible and unsafe," Tata Steel explained.

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(RADIOCOR) 11-06-24 12:12:02 (0282) 5 NNNN