Up to 400 people working for Tata Steel could lose their jobs after the company’s Newport site was closed. However, some of these workers may be moved to other Tata Steel locations in the UK.
Despite there being a factory in the area since 1898, Orb Electrical Steels has not been in profit for over four years.
The factory, which makes electrical steel used in power transmission, was put on the market in May 2018, with Tata Steel looking to focus on other areas of the business.
Orb Electrical Steels is part of Tata Steel’s Cogent division, which is being sold to the Japanese steel company JFE Shoji Trade Corporation later this year.
Tata revealed that in order to keep the plant open, they would have had to spend over £50m renovating the current facility.