Tata Steel said on Tuesday that it will start building a new eco-friendly steel plant in Port Talbot, South Wales, this month. The plant will use electric arc furnace (EAF) technology, which is cleaner and more modern than traditional methods. This project will cost about ₹16,000 crore (GBP 1.5 billion), and the UK government will contribute GBP 500 million.
The company expects the new plant to begin operations by the financial year 2027–28. Tata Steel said all necessary approvals have been received. CEO T V Narendran and CFO Koushik Chatterjee confirmed that work on the project is on track.
This is a major step in Tata Steel’s move towards low-carbon steelmaking. The new method will use scrap metal from the UK instead of coal-based blast furnaces.
Currently, Tata Steel runs the UK’s largest steel plant in Port Talbot, which can produce 3 million tonnes of steel every year. However, it has shut down its older production units and now supplies UK customers with steel from its plants in India and the Netherlands.
In the April–June quarter, Tata Steel delivered:
- 0.60 million tonnes from the UK (down from 0.68 million tonnes last year),
- 4.75 million tonnes from India,
- 1.50 million tonnes from the Netherlands,
- 0.34 million tonnes from Thailand.
Production in India, the Netherlands, and Thailand stayed stable, but maintenance work at Jamshedpur and Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) in India affected output. NINL is now back in operation, and the blast furnace at Jamshedpur is expected to be ready by July 2025.
