Tata Steel has completed an important strategic project that makes it only the second vertically integrated producer of grain oriented electrical steels in the European Union.

As a result of collaboration between colleagues in the Netherlands and south Wales, grain oriented (GO) electrical sheet produced by Tata Steel subsidiary Cogent Power is now being manufactured using feedstock sourced from the company's IJmuiden works.

By fully integrating its GO production route, Tata Steel has removed constraints on quality development and output that had existed because of previous dependence on third-party sources. Among the benefits of this will be greater ability to expand in fast-growing developing markets. The development will also enable all the value from the manufacture of this premium product range to be retained within the company.

Cogent Power General Manager Mark Cichuta said: "I am delighted that several years of work with our research and manufacturing colleagues in the Netherlands have culminated in the successful integration of our process route in grain-oriented steels.

"This is a big step forward, enabling us to expand our electrical steels portfolio, for example by producing significantly more high-quality HiB grades*. We will also be able to realise the greater flexibility and control in our manufacturing process that vertical integration brings.

"Innovating our product and service offer in this way for the benefit of our customers in the worldwide power transformer business is an excellent example of Tata Steel's market differentiation strategy in Europe being put into action."

The project has extended to Tata Steel's GO steels production the vertical integration that already exists in the company's production of non-grain oriented (NGO) material. Tata Steel's Surahammar works in Sweden produces NGO feedstock also supplied from IJmuiden.

About Tata Steel in Europe
The European operations of Tata Steel comprise Europe's second largest steel producer. With main steelmaking operations in the UK and the Netherlands, they supply steel and related services to the construction, automotive, packaging, lifting & excavating, energy & power, aerospace and other demanding markets worldwide. Tata Steel is one of the world's largest steel producers. The combined group has an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 80,000 employees across four continents.

* HiB grades are high-permeability grain-oriented electrical steels with lower magnetic losses, resulting in improved efficiency when used in power transformers.