Tata Steel is to raise capacity at its Port Talbot site in South Wales by 5 per cent as it announced new investment targeted at its increasing focus on high-value added steel produce.
The company has invested £14 million into a transfer cooling bar system, which will increase efficiency at the Hot Strip Mill at Port Talbot and raise capacity by over 150,000 tonnes per year, the company said on Friday.
The investment comes after a £30-million investment in November into the site, which together would create a “stronger, more efficient and more reliable platform”.
“We took the opportunity of a planned maintenance shutdown to upgrade several plant areas to further improve production of high-value steels and their delivery to customers,” said Jon Ferriman, Tata Steel’s Director of strip products UK.
Merger plans
Once the focus of concern about its future, the fortunes of Port Talbot have strengthened as Tata Steel moves forward with plans to merge its European assets with those of German steel maker ThyssenKrupp. The prospects for the merger were enhanced by the deal struck with the UK authorities that enable Tata Steel to offload its pension liabilities – a move which it said was key to the creation of a sustainable future.
Alongside restructuring initiatives – to refocus on higher value added produce – the industry has also benefited by an improvement in global prices and demand and the widening of anti-dumping measures from the European Union across product categories.
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