Its two inactive blast furnaces[4] and steel production plant buildings are major landmarks visible from both the M4 motorway and the South Wales Main Line when passing through the town.

Abbey Steelworks was planned in 1947, but today is correctly termed Tata Steel Strip Products UK Port Talbot Works.

However, political manoeuvring led to tinplate production being retained in its original heartland further west, at two new works in Trostre and Felindre.

Output is taken by rail from Margam Knuckle Yard to Shotton for coating, Trostre for tinplating, or direct to the Midlands for the motor industry and domestic goods.

[13] However, in spite of the Brexit result and warnings from industry and elsewhere that leaving the EU could have a disruptive effect on UK steel, following the vote Tata recommitted to the plant.

In September 2023 the UK Government agreed to pay Tata a £500 million subsidy in order for it to invest in an electric arc furnace.

[2][16] With Tata being the largest private employer in Port Talbot, concerns have been raised regarding the future economic health of the town.

[2] There has been controversy among some commentators around the causes behind Tata choosing to close the blast furnaces in 2024 as opposed to accepting the proposal from unions to keep them open as the plant transitioned to more environmentally friendly methods of production.

[17] However, Labour former Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones pointed to the UK's decision to leave the EU as a factor, stating that the uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in reluctance to invest in the plant and had made it less competitive and less viable as a business, highlighting that Tata was retaining blast furnace operations in the Netherlands and choosing to close them in the UK.

[26] There have been many fatalities caused by industrial accidents at the plant since its opening, the number having been reduced over the years by improved safety measures.

[27] Len Radford, 53, Stephen Galsworthy, 25, and Andrew Hutin, 20, died when blast furnace five erupted, sending molten liquid down on them.

[29] In July 2012 Tata Steel were fined £500,000 over the 2006 death of worker Kevin Downey at the Port Talbot plant.