Faced with foreign competition, an overproduction crisis and a raft of closures, how can british steel compete in the current climate?

The UK’s steel industry has been in decline for decades, but the sector is now facing some particularly challenging hurdles that present an existential threat to domestic producers. Can anything be done to rescue what used to be one of Britain’s crowning industries, or are we seeing the dying embers of a fire about to be snuffed out?

China became the world’s largest steel producer as far back as the late 1990s, and in 2023 it accounted for 54% of the world’s production. Western producers have long struggled to compete on price due to comparatively higher wages and material costs, but this has never been more acute than in 2024. Recent sluggishness in the Chinese economy has seen a reduced demand for new construction in the country, but steel output has remained strong despite plummeting domestic demand. This has led to an overproduction crisis, with global...