5,000 jobs have been secured following the start of construction on Tata Steel’s electric arc furnace (EAF) at Port Talbot steelworks today (14 July)
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will join Tata Group Chairman N. Chandrasekaran, Wales Secretary Jo Stevens and other government and company representatives to break ground on the project and start construction later today.
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The construction milestone, made possible by a £500 million UK Government grant provided as part of the improved deal for Port Talbot’s transition which the Government agreed after only 10 weeks in office, is a major win for Welsh steelmaking in the run-up to the launch of government’s Steel Strategy this year.
This morning, Industry Minister Sarah Jones will chair a meeting of the Steel Council at 7Steel in Cardiff to work towards finalising the upcoming Steel Strategy – backed by up to £2.5 billion of investment – and reflect on a series of recent wins for the industry with senior leaders from across the sector, including British Steel and UK Steel.
This includes slashing energy costs for steel producers via new measures announced in the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy, strengthening the UK’s steel safeguard measures to protect the industry from spikes of foreign steel imports and bolstering the UK’s procurement rules to ensure UK-made steel is considered wherever possible for use on public construction projects.
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The Government is also backing the steel sector by working closely with the US to secure the removal of 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium, while the UK remains the only country in the world not to pay a 50 percent tariff rate.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:
The start of construction on Tata Steel’s EAF marks a significant step forward in Port Talbot’s transition to greener steel production, and is expected to reduce the site’s carbon emissions by around 90 percent.
The success of the project – and Tata Group’s continued investment in British industry – is testament to the UK’s strong and valued relationship with India, following the trade deal the Government agreed with India in May which will add billions to the UK economy going forward.
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During the ground-breaking event to mark the start of construction, the Business Secretary will tour the site of the new EAF, meet with senior management at Tata Steel and take part in a demonstration with a virtual reality headset to see how the new EAF will look when operational.
Tata Group Chairman Mr Chandrasekaran said:
Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens said: