According to the (London) Financial Times, Tata Steel in its end-of-fiscal-year results warned of material uncertainty in its U.K. business, citing economic conditions and a lack of clarity on government support to help it transition from classic blast furnace production. 

The U.K. government had offered Tata GBP300 million in aid, but the amount is much less than the estimated GBP2 billion investment needed to change process routes as well as the financial support European competitors have received from other countries as they undertake their own process conversions, the newspaper said. 

Tata Steel managing director T V Narendran told The (India) Economic Times that Tata Steel U.K. is coming to a crossroads as the Port Talbot blast furnaces will reach the end of their lives in a year or two. 

The status quo can’t continue, he said, and the company will either have to proceed with decarbonization investments or shut down. Talks with the government are on-going, he said. 

"The status quo can't continue. Those assets will either have to be shut down or we have to transition into a new process route, so there are some calls that need to be taken in the U.K. in the next year or two," said Narendran.