Tata Steel says in talks with Dutch govt to fund plant clean-up

Tata Steel Ltd on Thursday told the exchanges that it has been in talks with the Dutch government on a proposed decarbonization roadmap for its IJmuiden factory in the Netherlands.

The steel producer’s statement after a Bloomberg report said that the Dutch government may contribute about €3 billion (or $3.26 billion) to clean up the plant, which has reportedly caused serious health and environmental problems in the surrounding areas.

The Dutch Parliament on Tuesday gave its nod to provide subsidies to the company to accelerate the renovation, but did not specify the amount.

Foreign consultants estimate that the subsidies could reach €3 billion, the report said, citing a spokesperson for the Dutch ministry of economic affairs and climate.

The Dutch Parliament, in March formally gave a mandate to the government to negotiate the terms of potential support towards a proposal for decarbonization in Tata Steel Nederland.

Subsequently, the Dutch government formulated a detailed framework of diligence, analysis, discussions and negotiations with Tata Steel that will run over several months before potentially culminating in an agreed set of terms, Tata Steel said in its statement.

“These terms will then require approval from the Netherlands Parliament as well as the board of Tata Steel,” it said.

“It may be premature to draw any final conclusions at this time and hence the company is not in a position to comment any further,” it added.

In its annual report, the company said that “with respect to Tata Steel Netherland operations, which forms main part of the MLE (mainland Europe) business, discussions with the government on the proposed decarbonization roadmap have been initiated.”

The scenarios for Tata Steel Netherlands’ decarbonization, influenced by European and Dutch regulations, anticipate financial support from the Dutch government, it said in the report.