Tata Steel has announced the closure of Blast Furnace 4 and other associated iron and steelmaking assets at Port Talbot, the UK’s largest steel plant, marking the end of over 100 years of ironmaking at the site.
The company stated that many of the plant’s “heavy end” assets, such as blast furnaces and coke ovens, had reached the end of their operational life, making further investment economically and environmentally unviable.
This closure follows earlier shutdowns of the deep-water harbour, Morfa coke ovens, blast furnace 5, and continuous caster 2. The cessation of the Sinter Plant and primary steelmaking completes the planned asset closures.
Tata Steel plans to resume operations at Port Talbot in 2027/2028 with a GBP 1.25 bln (USD 1.67 bln) investment in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking, using UK-sourced scrap steel. This includes GBP 750 mln (USD 1 bln) from Tata Steel and GBP 500 mln (USD 669 mln) from a UK Government grant.
The company has started sharing detailed plans and virtual simulations of the new EAF with local communities and stakeholders and will soon announce the equipment manufacturer. Some secondary steelmaking assets and two continuous casters will be retained for future investments.
The shift to EAF steelmaking is expected to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by 1.5pct, as Port Talbot’s coal-fired plant is currently the country’s largest single carbon emitter.
1 USD / 0.74 GBP
