Tata Steel said on Monday it has decided to cease operations of coke ovens at the Port Talbot plant, in Wales, following a “deterioration of operational stability”.
Coke ovens are manufacturing plants or blast furnaces for making coking coal, a key raw material in steelmaking.
“Tata Steel UK will increase imports of coke to offset the impact of the coke oven closures,” the steelmaker said in a statement.
The company had said in January it would shut down its two blast furnaces in Britain by the end of this year, following its plan to turn around its loss-making UK steelmaking business by switching to lower carbon electric arc furnaces.
Tata Steel CEO T V Narendran, in an interview with Reuters earlier this year, had said the closure of the two plants would lead to 2,800 workers losing jobs at Port Talbot, a move that has been rejected by three trade unions.
The company said on Monday it is in “advanced stage of consultations” with trade unions in the UK on its restructuring plans.
After the restructuring, the steelmaker plans to switch to low-carbon electric arc furnaces, a proposal backed by 500 million pounds ($636.70 million) of government money.