The fire that broke out at Tata Steel's Port Talbot facility in the UK on the night of 3 June has caused “substantial damage” to parts of the plant, according to an executive familiar with the matter, potentially leading to production losses for the steelmaker for at least a month. To offset this hit to production, the company is rapidly shifting workers and operations to its nearby Newport facility.
The cause of the accident is yet to be determined, and will only be established following an inquiry. However, the incident has affected Tata Steel’s operations at Port Talbot, a town about 300 kilometres west of London, where it produces a little over two million tonnes of steel a year.
The fire has forced the steelmaker to cease operations at the pickle line, a critical unit of the cold mill within the facility that cleans hot-rolled steel before it moves to the next stage of production. The cold mill accounted for at least half of the facility’s total output, the executive said, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive.
“The insurance company is expected to visit the site on Monday to assess the extent of the damage,” said the executive, who visited the facility after the fire was brought under control on Friday. The executive said the pickle line had “completely collapsed”, while sections of the plant were left blackened and bent by the blaze, with melted steel visible across parts of the site.
The timing is significant as the UK subsidiary of India’s second-largest steelmaker is in the midst of constructing a green steel unit and has guided for Ebitda breakeven by the end of FY27. Ebitda loss for the UK fell to £217 million in FY26 from £385 million in FY25.
An email sent to Tata Steel on 6 June and 7 June did not elicit a response.
Newport shift
In the meantime, Tata Steel is redeploying workers to its 1.2-million-tonnes Newport facility to offset the loss in production volumes and see that there is no material disruption in supplies to customers. Once operations there are fully ramped up over the next four weeks, the plant is expected to run around the clock, compared with its current schedule of 12 hours a day from Monday to Friday. The Newport facility is projected to produce about 20,000 tonnes of steel a week once fully ramped up, the executive added.
The site’s hot rolling mill at Port Talbot, paused as a precaution, was unaffected and is expected to start production in the middle of next week, the company said in an incident update.
Hot-rolled steel is shaped at very high temperatures and is mainly used in construction and industrial applications. Cold-rolled steel is further processed after cooling, making it smoother, stronger, and more precise for use in cars, appliances and other finished products.
“Mid and West Wales Fire Service attended the Port Talbot site last night at around 8 pm to deal with a fire at one of the site’s processing lines. All personnel were accounted for and evacuated from the area safely,” the company said in an incident update on 4 June.
The company also said supply chain teams are actively implementing mitigation plans, including alternative processing at Newport's Llanwern Cold Mill and Pickle Line. “These actions are focused on maintaining continuity of supply and supporting our customers during this period,” the company said in a statement.
Tata Steel entered Europe through its $12-billion acquisition of Corus Steel in 2007, which included the Port Talbot plant and operations in the Netherlands. In 2024, the company received a £500-million grant from the UK government as part of a £1.25 billion plan for a 3.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) green steel project at Port Talbot. It broke ground for construction in July 2025.
Tata Steel is the second Indian metals company to suffer a fire at its foreign subsidiary in the past 12 months. Aditya Birla’s metals flagship Hindalco Industries faced two fires at the Novelis plant in Oswego on 16 September and 20 November 2025, disrupting aluminium supplies to the automotive industry and can makers. The company’s net profit for FY26 declined due to a ₹6,963-crore one-off expense related to the Oswego plant disruption. However, the company expects to recover nearly 80% of this through insurance, Mint reported previously.