Simon Jack
BBC Business Editor

Tata says it wants to sell up “in a time bounded way” - in other words pretty damn quick - understandable if you are losing a million pounds a day.

It insists it’s not leaving the business in the lurch and points to the Liberty and Greybull transactions as evidence. 

They may buy additional bits and pieces but there is deep scepticism that either of them have the firepower or appetite to take on something as big as Port Talbot and its 4000 workers.

STEEL TIMELINE

1902: The first steelworks at Port Talbot is founded 

1923: A second Margam works is finished 

1947-1953: The third Port Talbot plant is built and becomes part of Steel Company of Wales. The works employ around 18,000. By this period, the rolling mill at Ebbw Vale has become the biggest of its kind in Europe. 

1962: The Queen opens the £150m Spencer works in Newport, later known as Llanwern. 

1967: British Steel is formed from 14 different firms as the industry is nationalised 

1980: 6,500 people lost their jobs at Shotton Steelworks, Deeside

1988: British Steel is privatised and becomes part of Dutch-owned Corus in 1999. 

1990: More than 1,100 jobs are lost at Brymbo steelworks in Wrexham. 

2001: Corus announces 6,000 UK job losses - a fifth of its workforce. They include 1,340 at Llanwern in Newport, and 90 at Bryngwyn in Swansea. The Shotton cold strip mill closes with 400 redundancies. 

2002: The Ebbw Vale steelworks shuts with 850 job losses, although 300 workers move to other plants. 

2007: Corus bought by Tata Steel of India 

2014: Tata blames high business rates and "uncompetitive" energy costs for 400 job losses at Port Talbot.

2015: Tata Steel reported a "turbulent year" due to Chinese exports and high energy costs but Port Talbot produced an all time record of 4.19m tonnes of hot metal while the hot strip mill hit speed-of-work records. In August, it mothballs part of its Llanwern plant for the third time in six years, with 250 job losses. 

The man in charge of Tata's European operations said the firm wants a buyer to continue steelmaking at Port Talbot. 

Koushik Chatterjee said: "We have been in discussion with government in terms of finding out a desirable outcome and we will continue that engagement and we will see where that goes. 

"We would like a buyer to come in and continue the business and maybe have a different risk profile than what we have gone through and perhaps continue to sustain the business, and that would be a happy moment for us. 

"We have over-capacity in the steel world, we have a market situation which remains challenging and the currency has not helped.

"Hopefully we will find a buyer who sees value in this business and continues."

Image source, bbc

What impact has the steelworks had on three generations of one Port Talbot family?

BBC Wales online reporter Michael Burgess took a look back on his own family history. More

Image source, Michael Burgess

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Tata Steel says it cannot give an "open ended" commitment to keep steel plants in the UK open while a buyer is sought. 

The company says it wants to "move quickly" to secure a sale but ministers have warned they need months - not weeks - to search for a buyer. 

They point to the example of the Scunthorpe steel plant where it took more than a year to find a potential buyer. 

The company's executive director Koushik Chatterjee declined to say how long he would give the UK Government to secure a buyer. 

Mr Chatterjee also defended Tata's running of the UK steel plants. He said the firm had supported them for nine years and lost more than £2bn.

He said so far they had not spoken to any potential buyers. He said the steel industry was facing "unprecedented challenges" because of over-capacity. 

The letter from First Minister Carwyn Jones to Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler requesting the recall of the assembly reads:

Dear Rosemary,

In accordance with Standing Order 12.3, I formally request a recall of the National Assembly so that members are able to consider the implications of Tata Steel's decision in a full plenary session. I intend to make an oral statement and my preference is that the Assembly should meet on Monday 4th April. 

Yours sincerely,

Carwyn Jones 

Reporter Nicola Bryan recently visited Port Talbot to speak with residents and learned that the community's fortunes have mirrored the rise and fall of the steel industry it relies on. Full story

Image source, Neath Port Talbot Council

This is the scene outside the plant in Port Talbot this morning

Image source, Getty Images

Unite Wales has issued a statement: 

The UK Government is looking at all "viable options" to protect the future of Port Talbot steelworks and Tata's other UK sites, said Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns.

"The government is committed to all it can to explore all viable options to try to save as many jobs as possible and to preserve the local strategic interests in areas such as Port Talbot but also the national strategic interest," he told BBC Radio Wales.

First Minister Carwyn Jones told BBC Wales: "We must remember that vast amounts of money is needed to secure the steel industry's future - but we are ready to support any initiative in order to save jobs.

"I call upon Tata to act responsibly in terms of finding a new buyer - they must ensure that the site stays open for an adequate period that would enable a potential buyer to come forward."

He also discussed the possibility of business rate support from the Welsh Government.

"This on its own would not be enough - we also need support of UK Government and investment from outside. But we now know what we are facing - before Christmas we thought that the site would close - so things have changed - at least now we have more options."

Tata employs over 6,000 workers in Wales, according to the Community Union.

In the UK, the figure is just over 15,000.

Image source, bbc