Britain seizes control of steel plant after talks with China collapse

Great Britain has tightened control over a critical part of its industry – steel production. This is reported by AP, reports UNN.

Details

After a protracted crisis surrounding the plant in Scunthorpe, the only enterprise in the country capable of producing steel from raw materials, the government decided to temporarily take it under management. The reason was the unwillingness of the Chinese company Jingye Group, which owns British Steel since 2020, to cooperate in matters of preserving basic production facilities.

Official London accused the owners of disrupting negotiations on the future of the plant and trying to preserve only profitable segments of the business, while actually curtailing strategic production. A particularly critical moment was the cancellation of orders for iron ore and other raw materials – without it, blast furnaces will not be able to operate, and starting them after a shutdown will become extremely expensive or impossible.

The legislative initiative, adopted as a matter of urgency, gave the government direct powers to manage the enterprise, pay salaries to employees and ensure the supply of necessary materials. This is an attempt to avoid the final closure of blast furnaces, which would deprive the country of the ability to produce primary steel, as opposed to secondary production from scrap.

If this fails, Great Britain will become the only country in the "Big Seven" that has completely lost the ability to produce steel from raw materials – important for defense, infrastructure and energy security. The consequences of such a scenario may become noticeable in the near future, given global risks and growing competition in the field of strategic resources.

And although the Chinese company still formally owns British Steel, there is a growing opinion in British politics that the future of key sectors of the economy should not depend on foreign players, especially from countries with which there are geopolitical tensions.

Against this background, caution regarding Chinese investments in strategically important industries is increasing. Government officials admit that the level of trust in such companies is currently at a record low, and in the future, access conditions to the British market will become stricter for such investors.

Reminder

Earlier, London accepted the recommendation of the British Trade Remedies Authority to extend the suspension of tariffs on Ukrainian imports of hot-rolled flat and rolled products for another 12 months.