Tata Steel, a subsidiary of India-based Tata Group, plans to divest its UK operations and has been in discussions with the UK government to achieve the best possible outcome for the business.
The divestment is due to the deteriorating financial performance of the UK subsidiary, which employs 15,000 people. Trading conditions in the UK and Europe have rapidly deteriorated recently, due to structural factors including global oversupply of steel, significant increase in third country exports into Europe, high manufacturing costs, continued weakness in domestic market demand in steel and a volatile currency.