London (Platts)--23Nov2012/631 am EST/1131 GMT

Tata Steel announced Friday a restructuring plan "to improve the competitiveness of its UK operations" with the loss of 900 jobs across the UK units, while two strategic mills in Wales, Port Talbot and Llanwern, will see the re-opening of some production units.

The company will restart its blast furnace number 4 in Port Talbot, currently undergoing works, during Q1, 2013, and the hot strip mill in Llanwern, which was mothballed in December 2011 due to the weak market.

There had been market speculation that the company could decide to temporarily idle the other blast furnace at the site (number 5) when the number 4 would re-start operating.

But this was not confirmed by the company, and the Port Talbot plant is expected to be operating with two blast furnaces from Q1, 2013.

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"The restarting of the Port Talbot furnace will improve our competitiveness and allow us to enjoy the benefits of a modern, state-of-the-art furnace, which, combined with the planned downstream investments, will also enable us to improve customer service and return to sustainable production levels," Karl Kohler, CEO of Tata Steel's European operations, said.

A UK market source said the higher output from the flat units of the company could be exported to North Africa and other markets.

The company is proposing to cut 500 jobs at the Port Talbot mill, reducing shifts at the Rotherham and Hartlepool bar and pipeline mills and closing twelve distribution units in the UK, including Tafarnaubach and Cross Keys in South Wales, to concentrate all activities at six sites.

--Emanuele Norsa, emanuele_norsa@platts.com
--Edited by Jeremy Lovell, jeremy_lovell@platts.com

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