Tata Steel UK signs contracts for pickling line
Tata Steel UK has signed contracts with Clecim and ABB Limited to supply the pickling line for its Port Talbot site in Wales, Kallanish learns.
This further progresses its ongoing £1.25 billion ($1.65 billion) transformation of the site, which envisages a 3 million tonnes/year capacity electric arc furnace commissioning by late 2027/early 2028.
As leader of the consortium, global supplier of steel processing lines and rolling mills Clecim, together with global technology company ABB, will supply essential equipment and expertise needed to power the site’s brand new 1.8m t/y pickling line.
The new line will process hot rolled coil to eliminate oxide scale formed during the steel rolling process, ensuring a clean surface for further processing, improving product quality, and enhancing the bonding of coatings or finishes.
Tata Steel chief executive Rajesh Nair says: “Our new and advanced pickle line will form a major part of our green steelmaking facility at Port Talbot, ensuring we can supply downstream businesses with the high-quality, low CO2 steel products our customers are demanding.”
“This collaboration represents another critical step toward securing a sustainable future for steel production in South Wales – made possible by the expertise and innovation provided by these best-in-class business partners,” he adds.
Clecim will design and supply mechanical and process equipment, while ABB will deliver electrification and automation technology required for the cutting-edge pickle line. With the pre-engineering phase of the project completed, both companies are now moving forward with detailed engineering.
Clecim chief executive Thomas Comte comments: “We are proud to help pioneer this project by combining engineering, sourcing, and mechatronic products manufactured in France, to make this phase of Port Talbot’s transformation a reality.”
“This achievement is a testament to the strong partnership we’ve developed with Tata Steel and ABB over the past several months. Together, we are working in an agile and innovative manner to successfully install the new pickle line,” he concludes.
Eurofer: US tariffs threaten European steel and European sovereignty
The imposition of a 25% blanket tariff by the United States’ administration on all steel imports exacerbates an already dire market environment for the European steel industry and poses a genuine threat to its future. The sector expects the European Union to respond with an effective revision of the steel safeguard measures that will mitigate the impact of the U.S. tariffs and ensure the longevity of the industry in the long-term, says the European Steel Association.
“President Trump’s ‘America First’ policy threatens to be a final nail in the coffin of the European steel industry. If European steel disappears, so too does European automotive, European security and defence, energy infrastructure, transportation and others. What is at stake is European sovereignty”, said Dr. Henrik Adam, President of the European Steel Association (Eurofer). “Under the first Trump administration, we already witnessed the huge impact of Section 232. EU steel exports to the U.S. decreased by over 1 million tonnes, while for every three tonnes of steel deflected from the US market because of Section 232, two tonnes arrived in the EU.
Today, the overall market situation for European steel is much worse than in 2018. These new measures imposed by Trump are more extensive, therefore the impact of the U.S. tariffs is likely to be far greater”, continued Dr. Adam.
Firstly, the Trump administration has removed all product exemptions and Tariff Rate Quotas that the EU had previously negotiated. With EU steel exports to the U.S. already having fallen by 1 million tonnes, the EU now stands to lose at least another 1 million tonnes of steel exports to the US. Moreover, the blanket import tariff also now includes ‘derivative’ steel products, reducing export opportunities for a further 1 million tonnes of EU products.
Secondly, with global excess capacity having reached record levels in 2024 and set to increase again in 2025, the EU market – already saturated with cheap steel imports from Asia, North Africa and the Middle East – will be further flooded as steel intended for the US market will be redirected. 18 million tonnes of steel were exported to the U.S. under preferential regimes and are now at risk of deflection towards the EU market. EU steel production, which lost 9 million tonnes of capacity and 18,000 jobs in 2024 alone, is at even greater risk. There is also the prospect that yet more steel will be deflected to the EU market if additional reciprocal tariffs are imposed by the U.S.
“Simply put, while all other countries – today the U.S. – protect their national steel production, the EU has had the most vulnerable market in the world”, said Dr. Adam. “Our producers already face the highest energy prices while having the highest climate ambition. Meanwhile, they are being undercut by cheaper, more carbon intensive foreign imports”, he added.
In view of the existential threat to European steel caused by the spill-over of global overcapacity, foreign subsidies and dumping, now compounded by the new U.S. tariffs, the EU has committed to revising the current EU steel safeguard regime by 1 April.
“It is crucial that the revised steel EU safeguard measures are robust and effective to respond immediately and decisively to counter further deflection of steel imports flooding the EU market. The time has come”, concluded Dr. Adam.
EU industry cautious over rebound, awaits policy rescue
Big European steel industry names have offered a glimmer of hope for the demand outlook in recent days, but tempered expectations for 2025, Kallanish notes. In any case, the industry’s health will depend heavily on anticipated European Commission measures.
ArcelorMittal said it expects higher apparent demand on-year in 2025 amid low inventory levels, especially in Europe. The group’s expectation of restocking throughout 2024 did not materialise, however. Chief executive Aditya Mittal also cautioned that EU measures to support industry will be critical this year. The European Commission is due to publish its Clean Industrial Deal later in February. A specific action plan for the steel industry is also eagerly being awaited.
European steelmakers’ association Eurofer said the Commission initiatives “will determine the future of the EU steel industry”.
ArcelorMittal’s European operations saw sales and Ebitda drop 5% and 18% respectively on-year in 2024 to $29.95 billion and $1.62 billion, despite a 4% rise in steel shipments to 28.66 million tonnes, driven by flat products.
Eurofer said EU apparent steel demand should recover 2.2% in 2025 but only provided the industrial outlook improves and global tensions ease. This is also down from its forecast in October of a 3.8% rebound this year. The firm steadily revised down its 2024 demand growth projection throughout last year.
Economic uncertainty will continue to take its toll in the coming quarters despite monetary easing by the European Central Bank, it added. Energy prices, weak manufacturing and geopolitical tensions continue to weigh on activity.
US Steel, which owns the major flat steelworks in Kosice, said it expects slightly improved results in Europe in the first quarter, but pressure will remain from challenging pricing and demand conditions.
Tata Steel, which owns the IJmuiden and Port Talbot steelworks, pointed out that despite the European Central Bank reducing interest rates significantly, concerns persist about inflation and energy costs in Europe.
Adam Smith Poland
Tata Steel Nederland reports higher production, deliveries
Tata Steel Netherlands has reported a rise in steel production and deliveries in its third fiscal quarter and nine months of the 2025 fiscal year (FY25), Kallanish notes from its provisional results filing.
Liquid steel production for the Netherlands was at 1.76 million tonnes in the third, December quarter (Q3), up quarter-on-quarter from 1.66mt, and year-on-year from 1.19mt. Delivery volumes saw a small increase to 1.53mt, from 1.5mt the previous quarter, and y-o-y from 1.3mt.
Its nine-month production volumes were at 5.12mt, up 54% from 3.32mt for the same period one year earlier, while deliveries rose to 4.5mt from 3.89mt. Tata says the 16% y-o-y increase is primarily due to the higher production.
Tata Steel notes its Netherlands delivery figures include volumes shipped to Tata’s UK operations of 120,000t.
For Tata Steel UK (TSUK), production and delivery volumes were heavily impacted by the closure of steelmaking at Port Talbot on 30 September, reducing Q3 liquid steel output to zero.
“Following closure of the blast furnaces at the end of 2QFY25, TSUK has successfully reconfigured its supply chain to continue servicing customers via downstream processing of purchased substrate,” the firm says in the filing.
Q3 deliveries stood at 560,000t, down q-o-q from 630,000t and y-o-y from 640,000t.
Nine-month production amounted to 1.07mt, down y-o-y from 2.33mt in the same period of FY24, while deliveries were at 1.87mt, slumping from 2.11mt one year previously, which the company says were adversely impacted by subdued demand dynamics.
TSUK is to construct an electric arc furnace as part of its £1.25 billion investment in the Port Talbot site, £500 million ($626m) of which comes from a grant funding agreement with the UK government.
Carrie Bone UK
Tata Steel UK starts decommissioning of equipment at Port Talbot
Tata Steel UK, a subsidiary of India-based steelmaker Tata Steel Limited, has announced that it has started to dismantle its Port Talbot plant, including the converters and supporting structures, in line with the transitioning of the plant to electric arc furnace-based steel production.
Some of the equipment is being renovated for use in the new production process.
The company is also investing in two new ladle metallurgy furnaces to enhance the quality of finished steel. These furnaces will enable the company to meet the most demanding product specifications and customer requirements, ensuring its competitiveness going forward.
In October last year, the company ordered an electric arc furnace (EAF) and other state-of-the art steelmaking equipment from Italy-based Tenova, a Techint Group company specialized in innovative solutions for the metals and mining industries, for the decarbonization of its Port Talbot plant, as SteelOrbis previously reported.
Subdued prices impact Tata Steel UK, Netherlands
The performance of Tata Steel’s UK and Netherlands operations was impacted by weaker steel prices in the fiscal half-year through 30 September, Kallanish learns.
Tata Steel’s UK operations reported revenue of £600 million ($779m) during the second quarter of fiscal 2025, while Ebitda loss stood at £147m. Liquid steel production was 390,000t, while deliveries were at 630,000t.
On a half-year basis, revenue stood at £1,246m and Ebitda loss at £238m.
Tata Steel chief financial officer Koushik Chatterjee says: “Our performance in the UK and Netherlands was adversely impacted by the compression in steel spreads. Further, the UK was also weighed by the transitory nature of operations as the blast furnaces were safely decommissioned and steel stock was built up to operate downstream.”
Port Talbot ceased iron making on 30 September, and has since confirmed it has selected Tenova to supply the EAF for the site.
“We have completed public consultation on the planning application and anticipate commencing large scale site work around July 2025. During our transition to green steel, we will operate our downstream operations by sourcing substrate. This will help us sustain our significant market presence across steel end use segments in the UK,” Chatterjee added.
The group’s chief executive, T V Narendran, notes: “[Q2] also marked the closure of our blast furnaces in UK. We have signed the grant funding agreement with the UK government and are progressing on the proposed transition to green steel. We remain fully committed to supporting affected employees and have offered the best ever package of support in Tata Steel UK.”
The UK government confirmed in September Tata’s £500m in funding for the transformation.
Subdued steel prices also weighed on performance in the Netherlands. Revenue for the segment in Q2 was £1,300m and Ebitda was £22m. Liquid steel production was 1.66 million tonnes and deliveries at 1.5mt, which the company says increased on a year-on-year basis.
For H1, revenue was £2,644m and Ebitda was £65m.
Narendran adds: “We are undertaking pilot projects to avoid or convert captured carbon emissions.” Chatterjee meanwhile confirms: “We are engaged with the government on support for the decarbonisation of our operations.”
Carrie Bone UK
Tata Steel signs contract for new EAF at Port Talbot site
The new EAF, expected to become operational at the end of 2027, will have a capacity for 3 million tonnes per year of steel.
By transitioning to the new EAF technology, the Port Talbot site will be able to produce green steel, Tata Steel said. It will reduce its carbon emissions by 90%, which is equivalent to 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, the company added.
According to the company, the use of scrap in the new EAF will also reduce the UK’s reliance on imported iron ore.
The new EAF will be funded by a joint investment of Tata Steel and the UK government reaching £1.25 billion ($1.62 billion). Tata Steel will provide £750 million of the whole sum, and the investment of the UK government will be up to £500 million.
The grant from the UK government was approved on September 11.
The new EAF is supposed to replace the two blast furnaces (BFs) at the Port Talbot site, which were operational until recently. The two BFs had a capacity for 5 million tpy, but the company did not use the whole of it and explained that the annual output from the two BFs did not exceed 3 million tpy.
BF5 was closed in July this year, and BF4 was closed in September.
The Port Talbot site produced mainly hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil.
According to the contract with Tenova, the Port Talbot site will also receive new ladle metallurgy furnaces, which will allow the production of more complex grades required by manufacturers in the UK and other countries.
“Today marks an important milestone in making low-CO2 steelmaking a reality in Port Talbot, as well as reducing the UK’s carbon emissions and supporting our customers with their own carbon reduction targets,” T V Narendran, chief executive officer of Tata Steel, said during the signing of the contract.
“Technology like the furnaces made by Tenova is critical to decarbonizing the industry, unlocking its potential to provide skilled jobs and creating economic stability for future generations of steelworkers in South Wales,” Jonathan Reynolds, UK Business and Trade Secretary, said.
UK steel sector will face increased demand for scrap
Tata Steel’s new EAF will recycle 2 million-2.5 million tonnes of UK-sourced scrap every year — equivalent to about 2.5 million cars or 250 Eiffel Towers, the company said.
Using predominantly UK-produced scrap means that the company would need to buy high-quality scrap grades with lower impurities that are suitable for flat steel production.
The UK is a net scrap exporter, but with new EAF-based steelmaking capacities coming online, it could become an importer of certain grades, sources suggested.
Another UK steel producer, British Steel also plans to switch to EAF by 2025.
New decoiling line for Tata Steel plant in Maastricht
Tata Steel Nederland announces the inauguration of a new decoiling line at its Feijen steel service centre location in Maastricht.
This is the largest investment ever made by Feijen, involving a sum of 20 million euros. With the state-of-the-art processing line, Tata Steel Nederland can deliver faster and higher quality steel to its customers in the machine building and industry sectors.
The new line involves a so-called decoiler and an automated sheet packaging line at the Feijen location in Maastricht. Hot-rolled steel coils from Tata Steel in IJmuiden are processed into steel sheets. In close corporation with the IJmuiden steel mill colleagues, Feijen focusses on customers in Europe as well as in other parts of the world. These customers are active in markets such as agricultural and earthmoving machinery, trailers, cranes, and shipbuilding.
Tata Steel Nederland consists of two business units: Business Unit Tata Steel IJmuiden (TSIJ) and Business Unit Tata Steel Downstream Europe (TSDE). Service Centre Maastricht is part of TSDE and consists of two locations: Multisteel and Feijen. Multisteel processes steel coils in the thinner segment, such as cold-rolled and galvanized steel. Feijen processes hot-rolled steel coils. Both sites predominantly process steel coils from TSIJ. Some major end customers supplied from Maastricht include JCB, John Deere, CNH, and Volvo Construction Equipment.
In line with Tata Steel Nederland’s broader vision of sustainability, Service Centre Maastricht announces today its carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions. This initiative underscores Tata Steel Nederland’s commitment to reducing its environmental footprint and aligns with its long-term strategy of achieving carbon neutrality across its Downstream operations. Scope 1 concerns direct CO2 emissions caused by sources within the organization itself. Scope 2 concerns indirect emissions created by the production of the electricity or heat that an organization buys.
Downstream Europe processes steel from IJmuiden for high-grade applications in specific market segments, such as construction (metal roofs and wall cladding), the mobility sector and the energy sector (batteries). With 19 production sites in ten countries, TSDE supplies to customers located mainly in Europe and partly in the United States. TSDE is divided into five business units: Building Systems, Colors, Distribution, Plating and Tubes.
Read more: tatasteelnederland.com
EU HRC market gears up for mill consolidation
The European hot-rolled coil (HRC) market is gearing up for potential consolidation over the coming year, as mills grapple with tough market conditions.
The share prices of key European producers have rallied in recent days, despite continued weakness in HRC prices. Global steelmaker ArcelorMittal’s shares traded above €22/share ($24/share) on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange at 12:30 GMT today, up from €19.70/share on 10 September. This strength is partly attributable to the expected release of economic stimulus measures in China, and the US Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate cut, sources suggest. But market strength could also be because of growing talk that a new wave of consolidation is on its way, fuelled by decarbonisation efforts and the strained positions’ of some mills.
There has long been talk that steel coil producer Tata Steel Netherlands could be sold, after the Dutch state agreed to contribute to its decarbonisation spend. Recent difficulties at Germany’s ThyssenKrupp have also sparked suggestions it could be an acquisition target. Czech Republic energy company EP Corporate Group (EPCG) recently completed its purchase of a 20pc stake in ThyssenKrupp’s Steel Europe division, and could increase this to 50pc in the near future. EPCG owner Daniel Kretinsky may be seeking a strategic partner to help run the business, sparking talks that other mills could bid for a stake in the company.
ThyssenKrupp shares were trading at €3.20/share on Deutsche Borse Xetra at 12:30 GMT today, up from €2.78/share on 10 September.
Concerns over strong positions in niche markets, particularly tin plate, saw Tata Steel and Thyssekrupp call off their proposed joint venture in May 2019. But the market is in a different position now. Some mills have reduced capacity but new entrants are trying to join the market as green producers. And the global market is oversupplied, putting European producers in a difficult financial predicament, especially given their capital-intensive efforts to decarbonise. In the case of ThyssenKrupp, expectations that the mill will reduce its production footprint could partially alleviate potential competition concerns in the event of a takeover.
Tata UK could seek recycling company acquisition
Tata Steel UK could weigh up acquiring a recycling company to ensure supply of scrap for its planned transition to an electric arc furnace, Kallanish notes.
Two sources from large UK scrap companies tell Kallanish that Tata Steel had been reviewing potential acquisition opportunities within the last 12 months, reportedly making a bid for at least one UK facility, which was not successful. The steelmaker was not available for comment on this before Thursday deadline.
However, when asked during the UK Metals Expo on Thursday about the potential for securing its own scrap processor, Tata Steel UK head of public relations Tim Rutter said: “I think if you were an MBA student, doing a project about the steel industry and moving towards electric arc furnace steelmaking, you’d list a number of options.”
“You can continue a relationship with your scrap suppliers as a customer … you can work collaboratively as we are already doing as part of our collaboration with Swansea University on segregation, or buy scrap supply and become vertically integrated,” he told Kallanish at the event in Birmingham.
Rutter noted during an earlier panel: “There is clearly an emerging trend in the industry, which is collaboration, between private industry, government, academia [and] research institutes where people, more than I ever remember in my career, are working hand in hand for the common good.”
“Watch this space” he added.
One of the market sources views the steelmaker buying a recycling company as a move with no downside. “They should, and I think they will,” they tell Kallanish. “They’re spending their money opening an EAF, and they need scrap to feed it.”
“For Tata, there is no downside. It’s security of supply, at the end of the day,” the source adds, noting that another UK steelmaker, Celsa, had recently opened its own recycling facility with a material shredder.
“Tata Steel have certain expertise in house, and they already understand what quality they’re after. They either collaborate with recycling companies to get that blend, or buy a recycling company to get it,” the source continues.
The UK exports around 10 million tonnes/year of ferrous scrap, while domestically, the feedstock has become more challenging to secure, according to market sources, even before Tata switches to EAF steelmaking from 2027. This will see the firm’s scrap requirement rise to 2-2.5m t/y.
“There’s a lot less [scrap] available now, the supply of material is a lot harder. There is less demolition from construction and macroeconomic factors, with less [consumer] spend on cars, etc,” the market source adds.
They also note the volatility in scrap markets, with peaks and troughs becoming more frequent, which can be hard to navigate for buyers and sellers.
A second market source believes Tata Steel is underestimating the challenges involved with sourcing such a volume of scrap from the market or acquiring its own recycling company.
“It’s a very steep investment and a serious amount of capital investment to change the grading [of the scrap for an EAF],” the source says. Some scrap grades can have higher residual copper levels which would need managing, as well as needing to segregate chrome from other grades, they add.
“Tata will have to pay more money for the scrap as they’re asking the yards to do more work,” they note. “Naturally, you go towards shredders, but there’s not the volume coming out of the shredders in the UK today for what they need. With Celsa competing for material, the price of the shredder feed is going to have to go up.”
The second source explains that some facilities would not be good acquisition targets due to logistical limitations, with 2mt of scrap unlikely to be transported by road, while other facilities may not have the machinery needed such as shredders.
A shredder could cost £12 million ($15.7m), in addition to the acres of land needed for segregation and sorting the material, plus staff and engineers for maintenance and repairs, the source concludes.
Carrie Bone UK
