'Large industrial transition project'

“We are pleased that Hans will join the Board of Management of Tata Steel Nederland. His experience in driving transformation projects will be helpful in the context of the large industrial transition project which we are now undertaking” says T.V. Narendran, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Steel Limited and Chairman of the Supervisory Board, TSN.

‘Sustainable future’

“I am excited to join Tata Steel Nederland at a time when it is working to move to a new and sustainable future. I look forward to working with all my Tata colleagues to deliver this transition successfully”, adds Hans Turkesteen.

In his role as CFO of TSN, Hans Turkesteen will work closely with Tata Steel Limited's Executive Director and CFO, Koushik Chatterjee, on TSN’s overall financial stewardship including the turnaround delivery and securing a sustainable future of TSN.

In the annual report, Van den Berg speaks of a very challenging year: "The market deteriorated, with relatively high costs for energy and raw materials. This had a major impact on our financial results." In addition, there were delays in maintenance and renewal of installations.

Turnover and production

Turnover amounted to EUR 5.9 billion, compared to EUR 7.2 billion in 2022-2023. Tata Steel produced 4.8 million tons of steel this year. Last year, that was 6.3 million tons.

An important factor in the decline in turnover and production was the renovation of Blast Furnace 6. The costs amounted to between 500 and 540 million euros (capex).

Tata Steel has managed to minimise the impact of the renovation of Blast Furnace 6 on production by, among other things, building up a substantial steel stock in advance to compensate for the (temporary) lower production. Tata Steel has also purchased steel made elsewhere and further processed it itself for sale. In addition, Tata Steel has been able to increase production at Blast Furnace 7.

Anticipation of deteriorating market development in 2023

Last year, Tata Steel was unfortunately forced to anticipate various trends and developments that would put pressure on turnover and results. That is why it was announced in November 2023 that 800 jobs would go. Van den Berg: "This was an extremely difficult decision, but necessary to maintain our competitive position during the transition and to realise the Green Steel plan."

Job cuts have been reduced to 580. As such, Tata Steel adheres to the Employment Pact and there will be no forced redundancies. We do this by not filling vacancies and no longer hiring external staff. We also have natural staff turnover due to colleagues retiring, among other things.

Undiminished commitment to sustainability and reducing dust, odour and noise

In the 2023-2024 financial year, Tata Steel continued to focus on sustainability and reducing dust, odour and noise. From 2030, Tata Steel will switch to producing steel without coal and coke. Blast Furnace 7 will be the first to be replaced with installations that run on natural gas and hydrogen. Coking and Gas Plant 2 will then also close. Blast Furnace 6 will be shut down when the second phase of Tata Steel's Green Steel plan comes into effect. This is expected to be around 2035.

Click here to continue to the full 2023-2024 annual report.