19 March 2025: The European Commission has unveiled its bold Action Plan for Steel and Metals, which will deliver comprehensive measures to protect and strengthen the European steel industry. With global overcapacity, coupled with rising energy costs, and new US tariffs and forthcoming trade diversion intensifying pressure, the EU’s rapid response highlights the urgency of the moment.
Read More15 March 2025: Unlike many steel-producing countries - such as France, Italy, Spain and the UAE - the UK does not have a mechanism to protect energy-intensive industries (EIIs) from high wholesale prices. The report recommends introducing a two-way Contract for Difference (CfD) mechanism.
Read More12 March 2025: President Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and steel derivative products have today come into effect, with no exemptions granted to the UK or any other trading partners. These will have hugely damaging consequences for UK suppliers and their customers in the US.
Read More10 March 2025: With a decisive business plan yet to be set out in the Steel Strategy and the National Wealth Fund, UK mills could bridge the gap between supply and demand. The statistics released today show steelmakers could meet up to 86% of offshore wind plate requirements with investment. Offshore wind experts, LumenEE, point out that uplifting UK steel capacity and capability will mutually benefit national defence needs.
Read More7 March 2025: At the Make UK Conference 2025, industry leaders, policymakers, and business representatives gathered to address the urgent challenges facing the UK steel sector. The discussion underscored the critical need for government action, investment, and a robust strategy to secure the future of UK steel.
Read More23 February 2025: UK energy-intensive industries, including steel, glass, and ceramics, have urged the government to ensure a secure, competitive, and low-carbon electricity system. They warn that DESNZ's consideration of zonal pricing under REMA threatens industrial investment and decarbonization. For steelmakers, zonal pricing could raise electricity costs in key regions like Yorkshire and South Wales, worsening competitiveness against international rivals. Instead, they call for a Reformed National Market to support industry and energy security.
Read More17 February 2025: UK Steel welcomes the announcement by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds that Government has launched the Plan for Steel Consultation. This marks a significant commitment to tackling the key challenges facing our industry, including high electricity costs, unfair trading practices, and the need to strengthen domestic scrap steel recycling, with Trump’s tariffs being the latest in a number of international trade and competitiveness hurdles.
Read More12 February 2025: Heathrow’s new investment programme, building on its £2.3bn expansion plans and the development of proposals for a third runway to be submitted to Government by summer, marks a transformational moment - not just for the aviation sector, but for the entire UK economy. UK Steel is proud to support this landmark project as the airport sign the UK Steel Charter.
Read More11 February 2025: UK Steel responds to confirmation of US tariffs on UK-made steel. The US Presidential proclamation claims steel imports from Australia, the EU, Japan, and the UK rose from 18.6% in 2020 to 20.7% in 2024, proving quotas ineffective. However, this ignores 2020’s historically low demand during the pandemic – and UK steel exports to the US were actually 14% lower in 2024 than in 2018 when tariffs were first introduced.
Read More10 February 2025: UK Steel reacts to President Trump announcing new 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the US, raising concerns over their impact on existing trade agreements, including the UK's tariff-rate quota system.
Read More7 January 2025: UK Steel is pleased to reveal that the Government has today unveiled that the Steel Council’s inaugural meeting will go ahead later this afternoon. Many of the struggles stem from years of inadequate policy support and a lack of favourable business conditions, with the compounding effect of international steel making overcapacity and high electricity prices. However, this has now changed.
Read More6 December 2024: Now is the once-in-a-generation opportunity for UK steel. “Let’s look at this as the moment we can say ‘this is the time we got it right’” – this was the message the Rt Hon. Jonathan Reynolds delivered to the UK Steel Parliamentary Summit on Monday.
Read More26 November 2024: As the largest buyer of steel in the UK, the Government has a unique opportunity to support the domestic steel sector. However, the latest data reveals that one third of the steel it procures is imported, costing UK taxpayers £1.5 billion annually rather than supporting UK steel producers. Over the next decade, government steel requirements will exceed £4.3 billion without even accounting for major initiatives such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen infrastructure, nuclear energy, and offshore wind.
Read More7 October 2024: A group of trade associations, businesses, and union from heavy-end electricity users to the renewable energy developers have written to Secretaries of State Ed Miliband and Jonathan Reynolds raising concerns over electricity market reforms, specifically the proposed zonal pricing model.
Read More7 October 2024: A new report published by UK Steel says that excess steel capacity worldwide, built due to non-market forces such as state subsidies, could easily cancel out the UK Government’s steel investments if not taken seriously and tackled with new bold trade policies.
Read More27 September 2024: This is a huge win for UK Steel, which has advocated that all carbon leakage policies should be aligned and strongly urged the Government to ensure that any changes to UK ETS and free allocations only happen in parallel with the introduction of the UK CBAM.
Read More16 September 2024: The Prime Minister confirmed in a statement today that Marcegaglia Stainless will be investing £50 million to build a new Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) to upgrade its existing site in Sheffield. The new ‘state of the art’ EAF will increase annual plant productivity to over 500,000 tonnes of stainless steel products, bringing efficiency and environmental improvements, and creating 50 new jobs.
Read More11 September 2024: Tata Steel and the UK Government has formally signed a grant funding agreement worth £500m, allowing Tata Steel to proceed with its plans to install a state-of-the-art Electric Arc Furnace at its Port Talbot steelworks in Wales. This signifies the biggest investment in the UK’s modern steel sector, as Tata Steel is inputting another £750m.
Read More2nd Sept 24: UK Steel's new report on industrial electricity prices, featured in The Times, demonstrates that a sizable gap remains between what UK steelmakers and their European competitors pay. The report also sets out three recommendations to bring electricity prices in line with European counterparts.
Read More9 July 2024: The Chancellor Rachel Reeves and the Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, alongside Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband, have today announced the new National Wealth Fund. The plans will align key institutions that will boost growth and unlock investment.
Read More4 July 2024: New UK Steel analysis, featured in The Guardian, shows that over the past three months, the UK’s electricity wholesale price is more than double the cost of French and Spanish electricity. The data shows an alarming new trend in industrial electricity costs, and it is critical that the next government resolves the problem regardless of the outcome of the General Election.
Read More26 June 2024: The Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Kemi Badenoch, has given the go ahead to extend the UK’s steel safeguards for all 15 product categories until June 2026. The trade remedy tool can only be applied until June 2026 according to World Trade Organisation rules. With global steelmaking capacity only on the rise, the problems faced by the steel sector will not go away any time soon and UK Steel is now working on new models for future remedies.
Read More24 June 2024: New analysis by UK Steel, featured in The Times, has found that current government infrastructure projects may spend over £1.5 billion on steel bought from abroad. Over the next decade, existing government figures show a steel order book spend worth an estimated £4.3 billion. However, the latest data confirms that only 66% of this steel is purchased from UK steelmakers.
Read More18 December 2024: By confirming a CBAM from 2027 instead of matching the EU’s 2026 timeline, the Government risks high-emission steel being dumped in the UK from 2026 when the EU CBAM takes effect.
Read More4 December 2023: A new report, unveiled by UK Steel, urges the Government to capitalise on the UK’s current competitive advantage, that we generate over 10 million tonnes of steel scrap each year, to create the conditions needed for a vibrant, circular economy that makes the best domestic use of this vital material.
Read More22 November 2023: The Chancellor has today missed a major opportunity to confirm that the UK will implement a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in his Autumn Statement. UK Steel, the trade association for steel companies in the UK, says that the country is now in danger of playing catch-up with the EU on timetables, leaving a critical, trade-exposed industry at risk.
Read More13 November 2023: UK Steel has today launched a report showcasing the vast chasm between UK industrial electricity prices and what European competitors pay, setting out four recommendations to deliver competitive electricity prices for the UK steel industry.
Read More6 November 2023: UK Steel comments on British Steel's proposed plan for £1.25 billion investment to adopt electric arc furnace steelmaking. With British Steel’s announcement, it is clear the UK steel sector is completely committed to rapid decarbonisation. Just one year after publishing the sector’s Net Zero roadmap, the UK’s major steel producers are taking crucial steps to decarbonise by 2035.
Read More23 October 2023: We welcome Labour’s continued commitment to the future of our steel industry. Steel is a strategically vital core product that no developed economy can be without.
Read More11 October 2023: The Government has today published the Network Charging Compensation scheme. This follows the announcement of the Industrial Supercharger Scheme in February and a consultation with industry on network charges. Today’s announcement confirms that Government will compensate industry for 60% of the network charges it faces.
Read More2 October 2023: UK Steel has today unveiled its report “Why the UK needs a strong steel sector”. The UK’s steel industry is the bedrock of the UK’s supply chains, central to the country’s economic potential and our resilience at a time of geopolitical turbulence. Now is the time to be bold and seize the opportunity to lead the world by building a Net Zero steel sector.
Read More15 September 2023: "This is an important day for the UK steel sector. Government has confirmed its firm and bold commitment to the future of steelmaking here in the UK."
Read More5 September 2023: Andy Street, Metro Mayor for the West Midlands, signed the UK Steel Charter, committing to using UK-made steel wherever possible in key projects in his region.
Read More4 July 2023: The Government published its response to its UK Emission Trading Scheme (UK ETS) consultation announcing that the scheme will have a tighter limit on industrial, power and aviation emissions, maintaining the existing free allowances until 2026.
Read More12 May 2023: UK Steel releases its latest statistics report which shows production levels of UK steel in 2022 dropped to their lowest since the Great Depression.
Read More14 December 2022: Electricity prices have risen to over £1,500/MWh this week, over 30 times the historical average, forcing some steelmakers to cease production temporarily.
Read More28 September 2022: Following the establishment of the new government and appointment of key positions, UK Steel sets at in this document it five key policy priorities to deliver a sustainable future of the UK steel sector and the fundamental reasons why domestic steel production is so important to the UK.
Read MoreJuly 2022: To create a Net-Zero steel sector in the UK and meet Government targets, a new report from UK Steel calls for a renewed focus on establishing a positive policy environment for steelmaking.
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