UK Steel comments on Tata Steel UK announcement
19 January 2024
Tata Steel UK has announced today proposals to restructure its UK business as it transitions to green electric arc furnace steelmaking.
UK and Welsh governments, along with Tata Steel, have established a Transition Board with up to £100 million to support affected workers and their communities and an additional £130 million to a comprehensive support package for affected employees, including redundancy terms, community programmes, skills training, and job-seeking initiatives.
Responding to today’s announcement, UK Steel Director General, Gareth Stace, said:
“Today’s announcement demonstrates the difficulty of operating in such a challenging steel market, with low steel demand, softening prices, and increasing costs. Decades of an uncompetitive business landscape have led to a lack of historical capital investment. Ageing assets at the end of their life means some companies must make impossible choices ahead of significant investment in green steelmaking in Port Talbot.
“The UK steel industry is at a critical turning point. We need a domestic steel sector to build a strong, resilient, low-carbon economy, but the industry faces steep challenges on the path to complete decarbonisation in little more than a decade.“
"The next few years will determine our future, and Government must continue its pledge to support the UK steel sector. It is time to accelerate commitments to deliver competitive electricity prices, grow green public procurement of steel, and ensure a trade remedies regime that backs British business.”
ENDS
Notes
Contact details
Louise Young, Campaigns and Engagement Manager, UK Steel 07388 370176 | Lyoung@makeuk.org
About UK Steel: UK Steel is the trade association for the UK steel industry. It represents all the country’s steelmakers and most downstream steel processors.
The UK steel sector:
- Produces 6Mt of crude steel a year, around 70% of the UK’s annual requirement (annual demand of 8.9Mt)
- Employs 39,800 people directly in the UK and supports a further 50,000 in supply chains
- The median steel sector salary is £39,637, 43% higher than the UK national median and 56% higher than the regional median in Wales, and Yorkshire & Humberside, where its jobs are concentrated
- Directly contributes £2.9 billion to UK GDP and supports a further £3.8 billion
- Directly contributes £4 billion to the UK’s balance of trade
- 96% of steel used in construction and infrastructure in the UK is recovered and recycled to be used again and again