New steel 'insult' for Wales

Martin Shipton

A new row is breaking out over the steel job losses at Port Talbot as it emerged that the UK Government may help a Norwegian company set up an iron ore pellet plant in the south Wales town to supply British Steel in Scunthorpe.

The UK Labour Government has been criticised for offering more help to save labour-intensive blast furnaces in Scunthorpe than it was prepared to offer to Tata in Port Talbot, where the transition to low carbon steelmaking is costing thousands of jobs, with two blast furnaces closing down. A new electric arc furnace, employing significantly fewer workers, will be built to replace them.

News that a new plant in Port Talbot may act as part of the supply chain to British Steel in Scunthorpe is already being seen as a further insult to Wales.

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Steel fund

UK Business Minister Sarah Jones referred briefly to the possibility when responding to a question in the Commons from Welsh Labour MP Carolyn Harris. Asked by the Neath and Swansea East MP  “Can the minister assure the steel communities of South Wales that they will receive a substantial share of the £2.5bn steel fund?”, Ms Jones replied: “We renegotiated the deal with Port Talbot and the £500m that goes alongside that.

“I had a good meeting this week with [Norwegian green steel company] Blastr, who are looking to build an iron pellet plant in the Port Talbot site, if possible, and we’re trying to support that.

“And of course, we have had our focus in recent weeks on Scunthorpe and British Steel, but the steel fund still remains, the steel plan is still being worked on, that is very broad and hopes to lift the entire UK steel industry.”

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'Shipping stop'

Llinos Medi, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for business and trade spokesperson said: “Turning Port Talbot into a shipping stop for Scunthorpe’s benefit would be yet another insult to Wales.

“Wales has lost its blast furnaces forever. An offering of minimal jobs as a sweetener to Port Talbot shows lack of compassion.

“This is not a just transition. It’s managed decline under Labour.”

A steel industry insider told Nation.Cymru how iron ore could arrive at Port Talbot by sea and be turned into pellets the size of marbles for transformation into steel in blast furnaces at Scunthorpe.

A statement on Blastr’s website says: “Blastr Green Steel is backed by solid and competent owners in Vanir Green Industries, a Nordic investment company that invests in, develops and scales green, robust and profitable businesses needed to accelerate the energy transition. Vanir Green Industries is managed by a team of experienced professionals with deep industrial competence and a genuine drive to build a more sustainable future.

In 2023 it was announced that Blastr might build an iron ore pellet plant at Redcar in the north east of England to supply a steelworks in Finland. It would create 150 jobs.

A Tata Steel spokesperson said: "We are committed to working with all our stakeholders to develop potential from surplus land at our site at Port Talbot. We are not able to comment on specific expressions of interest at this time."