Tata Steel invest £14m in new part for hot strip mill

Tata Steel has announced an investment of more than £14m at the Port Talbot steel mill to produce more high value products.

The money will be invested in the hot strip mill and increase capacity by 5% and will increase capacity at the mill by 150,000 tonnes per year.

It follows a £30m investment to replace 500-tonne steelmaking vessel in November 2017.

However, the future of the blast furnace is still uncertain.

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The £14m investment will see a transfer bar cooling system installed in the hot strip steel mill, which means steel can be brought to temperature quicker before it is rolled, resulting in higher quality.

Jon Ferriman, Tata Steel's Director of Strip Products UK, said: "This investment has created a stronger, more efficient and more reliable platform from which we can meet the needs of our customers.

"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."