Production of materials essential to UK’s COVID-19 response
Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Tata Chemicals Europe is committed to maintaining production of our essential chemicals in the short, medium and long term in order to continue to supply our UK and global manufacturing customers.
At the same time, we are taking all necessary steps to ensure the safety of our people and those in the supply chains in which we operate. Our production operations fall within the government identified critical sectors and will remain operational whilst following guidance to limit the spread of COVID-19 as far as is practicable.
We are the UK’s leading manufacturer of soda ash, sodium bicarbonate and salt. These chemicals are vital raw materials used by many essential industries that continue to operate in these challenging times.
Soda ash produced at our Lostock plant is used not only in glass manufacturing, for food and drink containers and medical supplies, but is needed to purify brine that is used to manufacture substances such as chlorine and PVC, both critical to food, hygiene and healthcare supply chains. Soda ash is also the main raw material used to produce sodium bicarbonate which, along with salt, is a critical ingredient in food manufacturing. Our high-grade sodium bicarbonate is also used in life-critical kidney dialysis and our salt is used in essential industrial processes and water treatment.
We are part of a critical national supply chain that helps keep the people fed, healthy and helps those that are unwell to receive treatment. As such, there are suppliers of products and services upon which we rely, which if disrupted, could impair our ability to perform our essential operations. We therefore ask that any of our suppliers who are concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on their operations to make contact with your Tata representative.