Tata Steel has shut down the last blast furnace at Port Talbot plant

The largest steel producer in Great Britain – Tata Steel UK – on September 30, 2024, closed blast furnace No. 4 at the plant in Port Talbot, ending the production of pig iron and primary steel at the plant. It is stated in the company’s message.

“Many of the existing ‘hard’ assets such as blast furnaces and coke batteries at Tata Steel UK’s Port Talbot plant have reached the end of their useful lives. Retaining the current configuration or further investment in traditional heavy production was economically and environmentally unfeasible,» Tata Steel noted.

As noted, at the end of September at the plant in Wales, in addition to blast furnace No. 4, the sinter plant was stopped, as well as some secondary steel production facilities and energy systems.

At the same time, the company notes that steel production at the site will resume in 2027/2028 thanks to a £1.25 billion investment in electric arc furnaces that will operate using British scrap.

Tata Steel’s planned £750m investment in green, low carbon steel production will be complemented by a £500m grant funding agreement recently signed with the UK government.

Tata Steel plans to announce the equipment manufacturer for the EAF in the coming weeks. Some of the secondary steelmaking capacity and the remaining two MBLZs will be retained for investment prior to the start-up of the electric arc furnaces.

Rajesh Nair, managing director of Tata Steel UK, noted that he is acutely aware of how difficult it is to close the last blast furnace at the company. He also noted that the company does everything possible to minimize the impact of these processes.

At the same time, BBC notes, Port Talbot will continue to roll steel slabs, which will be imported, for further supply to customers and Tata’s British processing plants.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in July 2024, Tata Steel stopped the operation of blast furnace No. 5 at the enterprise according to the plan. In September, the UK government confirmed the allocation of £500m to support the green transition of the Port Talbot facility, announcing that a new and improved deal had been reached. The funds are earmarked for the construction of electric arc furnaces at the steel mill and match the amount agreed by the previous Conservative government in autumn 2023.