Update: UK steel industry warns on risk of collapse

UK Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, and his counterparts from France, Italy, Germany and Poland have expressed grave concerns to the European Commission (EC) that imports of subsidised Chinese steel continue to threaten the industry. They have called for the EC to speed up investigations to enable a rapid introduction of anti-dumping measures or domestic steel industries will face collapse. As we have previously noted, the UK steel industry is in the grip of a crisis, with over 5,000 job losses since the summer, claiming it has been hit even harder than its European rivals due to higher costs and taxes. Recent data from the International Steel Statistics Bureau predicts a "dire" year for UK steel production with a drop of 20% expected, the lowest level on record. 

UK steel crisis: Sajid Javid joins EU governments to warn steel industry risks collapse unless Europe steps up cheap import fight against Russia and China

The UK and six other European steel producers have urged the EU to fight back against cheap steel imports, to stop the European industry “collapsing”.

Business secretary Sajid Javid joined ministers from Germany, Italy, Poland, Belgium, France and Luxembourg in demanding the EU “ensure a global level playing field” for the industry.

“The European Union cannot remain passive when rising job losses and steelwork closures show that there is a significant and impending risk of collapse in the European steel sector,” they wrote, in a letter published by the Financial Times.

The ministers call on the European Commission to tackle “unfair trade” from countries like Russia and China, for instance by taking swifter action in several pending anti-dumping cases.

The European steel industry is suffering under prices that have gone into freefall on the back of cheap imports, particularly from China, and major steelmakers like Tata Steel cutting thousands of jobs in the UK alone.

The ministers note that the EU conference on the industry’s woes, slated for 15 February, is an “opportunity to explore these issues”: