6 ms·

A healthy steel industry would seem to be fundamental to having a healthy auto industry. But the UK's steel industry is in trouble as well. https://www.theguar

A healthy steel industry would seem to be fundamental to having a healthy auto industry. But the UK's steel industry is in trouble as well. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/22/what-went-wrong-at-british-steel https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/22/what-went-w... "The UK steel industry has been in decline for some time because of a variety of factors such as overcapacity in EU steelmaking and Chinese state-subsidised firms flooding the global market with cheap product. An industry that employed 323,000 people in 1971 now employs less than a tenth of that, at 31,900. The closure of the Redcar steelworks in 2015 was a significant blow to the sector and left the UK with only two blast furnace steelworks, which make steel from raw materials: Scunthorpe and Tata Steel-owned Port Talbot in south Wales. There are also four electric arc furnaces in the UK, which make products from recycled steel. There are three of these sites in Sheffield and one in Cardiff."

mytailorisrich 7y ago
It's worth noting that the EU wanted to impose (higher?) tariffs on Chinese steel because of state subsidies and dumping. One country led a campaign against it... The UK. Then both Scunthorpe and Port Talbot areas voted in favour of Brexit.
- Zenst 7y ago
  Wasn't this 14 countries and about the "lesser duty" rules? However some articles do paint different pictures with the same facts - for example https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/01/steel-crisis-uk-accused-blocking-eu-attempts-regulate-chinese-dumping https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/01/steel-crisi... makes it sound like it was all the UK's fault based upon opinion. However, reading non-left learning media upon the same facts yields a different picture. Though I may of missed something - please could you point a source that shows that the UK was the only country to vote to keep cheap Chinese steel imports? Asking as I thought this was actually 14 countries, and about some import duty rule that covers many things above and beyond, cheap steel.
  - mytailorisrich 7y ago
    OK, maybe the UK wasn't the only one (I edited my previous comment), but the overall point remains when I read things like the following (article you linked to) from the European Steel Association (are they left-leaning?): "The fact is that the UK has been blocking this. They are not the only member state, but they are certainly the ringleader in blocking the lifting of the lesser duty rule," Taking into account that many small EU countries don't have a steel industry so may not have a strong view beyond wanting cheap steel. Then, the results of the EU referendum are public facts. The areas mentioned heavily voted for Brexit.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - Zenst 7y ago
      https://fullfact.org/europe/is-uk-calling-for-lower-eu-duties-chinese-steel/ https://fullfact.org/europe/is-uk-calling-for-lower-eu-dutie...
    - Zenst 7y ago
      As for Brexit or whatever it is called in the annals of history. The UK has always been a divided country when it comes to the whole EU project. Which has, as voting history has shown seen many a EU initiative squashed to the UK and its political influences with other members to rally behind it. Way to look at it is, if the EU was a company and the UK was an employee. Would you want to keep that negative vibe employee who wasn't really towing the company ethos, or just let them go?
- pjc50 7y ago
  I hadn't heard about this, so I found https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/01/steel-crisis-uk-accused-blocking-eu-attempts-regulate-chinese-dumping https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/01/steel-crisi... / https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tata-steel-uk-government-accused-of-failing-to-protect-british-workers-by-blocking-eu-plans-to-allow-a6962446.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tata-steel-uk... Why? Well, it seems to come back to China. > Tata Steel’s head of public affairs, warned the Welsh affairs committee in February that the chancellor, George Osborne, was pushing for China to get market economy status at the World Trade Organization, which would protect Beijing from the highest EU trade barriers, and that this could exacerbate the continent’s steel crisis. This seems to be part of a general plan of China-wooing, e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/21/george-osborne-uk-should-do-more-business-with-china https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/21/george-osbo... and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-34356097 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-34356097 , culminating in property fraud https://www.egi.co.uk/news/fraud-team-investigates-properties-touted-by-former-chancellor-on-china-visit/ https://www.egi.co.uk/news/fraud-team-investigates-propertie... (Mind you, the UK's steel industry is largely a historical contingency built on local deposits of ironstone and coal which are no longer economical to mine)
Theodores 7y ago
A healthy coal industry would seem to be fundamental to having a healthy steel industry. In 1971 there was ore and coal being mined in the UK. Maggie Thatcher got rid of the miners so coal has to be bought on the open market. The ore for steel went similarly to having to be bought on the global market. The UK is no longer an island of coal in a sea of fish. Economically it makes more sense to ship steel from where the ore and coal is rather than to ship the raw ore across to the other side of the world.

mytailorisrich 7y ago

It's worth noting that the EU wanted to impose (higher?) tariffs on Chinese steel because of state subsidies and dumping. One country led a campaign against it... The UK. Then both Scunthorpe and Port Talbot areas voted in favour of Brexit.

Zenst 7y ago
Wasn't this 14 countries and about the "lesser duty" rules? However some articles do paint different pictures with the same facts - for example https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/01/steel-crisis-uk-accused-blocking-eu-attempts-regulate-chinese-dumping https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/01/steel-crisi... makes it sound like it was all the UK's fault based upon opinion. However, reading non-left learning media upon the same facts yields a different picture. Though I may of missed something - please could you point a source that shows that the UK was the only country to vote to keep cheap Chinese steel imports? Asking as I thought this was actually 14 countries, and about some import duty rule that covers many things above and beyond, cheap steel.
- mytailorisrich 7y ago
  OK, maybe the UK wasn't the only one (I edited my previous comment), but the overall point remains when I read things like the following (article you linked to) from the European Steel Association (are they left-leaning?): "The fact is that the UK has been blocking this. They are not the only member state, but they are certainly the ringleader in blocking the lifting of the lesser duty rule," Taking into account that many small EU countries don't have a steel industry so may not have a strong view beyond wanting cheap steel. Then, the results of the EU referendum are public facts. The areas mentioned heavily voted for Brexit.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - Zenst 7y ago
    https://fullfact.org/europe/is-uk-calling-for-lower-eu-duties-chinese-steel/ https://fullfact.org/europe/is-uk-calling-for-lower-eu-dutie...
  - Zenst 7y ago
    As for Brexit or whatever it is called in the annals of history. The UK has always been a divided country when it comes to the whole EU project. Which has, as voting history has shown seen many a EU initiative squashed to the UK and its political influences with other members to rally behind it. Way to look at it is, if the EU was a company and the UK was an employee. Would you want to keep that negative vibe employee who wasn't really towing the company ethos, or just let them go?
pjc50 7y ago
I hadn't heard about this, so I found https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/01/steel-crisis-uk-accused-blocking-eu-attempts-regulate-chinese-dumping https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/01/steel-crisi... / https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tata-steel-uk-government-accused-of-failing-to-protect-british-workers-by-blocking-eu-plans-to-allow-a6962446.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tata-steel-uk... Why? Well, it seems to come back to China. > Tata Steel’s head of public affairs, warned the Welsh affairs committee in February that the chancellor, George Osborne, was pushing for China to get market economy status at the World Trade Organization, which would protect Beijing from the highest EU trade barriers, and that this could exacerbate the continent’s steel crisis. This seems to be part of a general plan of China-wooing, e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/21/george-osborne-uk-should-do-more-business-with-china https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/21/george-osbo... and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-34356097 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-34356097 , culminating in property fraud https://www.egi.co.uk/news/fraud-team-investigates-properties-touted-by-former-chancellor-on-china-visit/ https://www.egi.co.uk/news/fraud-team-investigates-propertie... (Mind you, the UK's steel industry is largely a historical contingency built on local deposits of ironstone and coal which are no longer economical to mine)

Theodores 7y ago

A healthy coal industry would seem to be fundamental to having a healthy steel industry. In 1971 there was ore and coal being mined in the UK. Maggie Thatcher got rid of the miners so coal has to be bought on the open market. The ore for steel went similarly to having to be bought on the global market. The UK is no longer an island of coal in a sea of fish. Economically it makes more sense to ship steel from where the ore and coal is rather than to ship the raw ore across to the other side of the world.