Part of 2. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 24 May 2016.
Well, the difficult part of the steel industry at the moment is the steel-making end in Port Talbot. The rolling mills at Trostre, Llanwern and Shotton are all in a good financial position. That said, I do know that the loss at Port Talbot has already been cut by two thirds. It’s still losing money, but there’s been a significant turnaround in a very short space of time. But it’s hugely important—and I’ve made this point many times before, and I’ll make it again tomorrow—that Tata’s assets in Wales are taken as a whole and that we don’t see piecemeal sell-off of what is seen as the more profitable ends despite the supply issues, but rather that we see the heavy end at Port Talbot being seen as an integral part of any sale. Huge progress has been made over a very short space of time to move towards what might be, in time, a break-even position. Given where the heavy end was before Christmas, that will be an enormous achievement.