Tata Shotton is “in a strong position” but long term assurances are needed First Minister Carwyn Jones says.

First Minister Carwyn Jones has said he is seeking assurances over the long term future of Tata Steel.

Despite recent news the company is to invest a reported £7m in the next generation of steel coating equipment at the Shotton works Mr Jones said:

“We need to get long term assurances for the future of all of the Tata Steel in Wales”

In a round of press briefings after the summer break the First Minister told Deeside.com:

“We are in constant contact with Tata, looking at ways of making sure we get long term assurances for the future of all of the Tata plants in Wales”

Tata Steel announced earlier in August Shotton will spearhead a drive to create the next generation of building envelope products “aimed at meeting current and planned future legislation and customer needs.”

In March, the Mumbai based parent company said it was considering the sale of its entire UK operations, putting the future of thousands of jobs across Wales at risk.

Shotton steelworks has remained the jewel in company’s crown remaining profitable even at the height of the steel crisis earlier this year.

With China dumping cheap steel on Europe, Tata claimed it was losing £1million a day at its Port Talbot works alone however, recent reports say Port Talbot is now back in profit buoyed by currency exchange rates.

Tata are now in joint venture talks with Thyssenkrupp as they look to find a more sustainable solution for their UK assets.

German steel maker Thyssenkrupp is pushing for consolidation in the European market as the steel industry struggles with overcapacity, worsened by Chinese exports flooding the market.

The First Minister said:

“Shotton is in a strong position in itself, we know that, but we need to get assurances about Tata’s operation in the whole of Wales.

At the moment the exchange rate is helping, but that’s not going to be that way forever

The fact is Tata are looking to invest in Wales again, that’s important and we wait and see what the detail of that might be.”

More investment for Deeside.

“Keeping the momentum going for jobs is important for us.” Mr Jones said.
We have a lot of big employers such as Airbus already in Deeside Enterprise Zone, and its been a really successful place for attracting investment, north east Wales is a hugely attractive place to invest.

I’ll be off to America next week and will keep on selling Wales and keep on saying to investors that despite Brexit Wales is open for business, a great place to come and invest in.

Priorities.

We need to move forward with our plans for the metro system to improve transport links, that means not just in the north east of wales but across the northern powerhouse

We know job creation is important but we need to make sure people can get to jobs easily, they are two main priorities for us.”

Pictures: flickr.com/welshlabour