Cheap Asian steel threatens British jobs, Tata warns
Cheap Asian steel threatens British jobs, Tata warns
Matt OliverSun, July 26, 2026 at 4:02 PM UTC
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Around 600,000 tonnes of galvanised steel per year is made by Tata Steel’s Llanwern plant in South Wales - Jeff Morgan/Alamy
A flood of cheap steel from Asia is threatening jobs at British plants, the country’s biggest producer has warned.
Tata Steel said its UK sites could become “unsustainable” after new government tariff quotas raised the amount of some types of steel that could be imported.
The tariff quotas were drawn up to shield the UK from a surge of cut-price products pouring out of China, India and other Asian countries. They ensure that imports above a certain limit are hit with tariffs of up to 50pc.
But the design of the regime has baffled steel industry insiders, who point to categories such as metallic-coated galvanised steel where, for example, Vietnam’s allowance has been more than tripled from 51,000 to 174,000 tonnes per year.
India’s allowance has also been increased, from 98,000 to 125,000 tonnes per year.
In the UK, around 600,000 tonnes of galvanised steel per year is made by Tata Steel’s Llanwern plant, near Newport in South Wales.
It means the site’s output risks being undercut by cheaper imports, with Tata understood to have warned the Government that its current UK footprint may become unsustainable without changes to the regime.
A Tata spokesman said: “On July 1, the EU implemented huge cuts to the UK’s tariff-free access to the single market, following similar action by other countries around the world.
“The UK has had to adopt a similar approach, as without such measures the UK would have become a dumping ground for cheap imports diverted from other markets, with the likely consequence of domestic steelmaking becoming unviable.
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“Without the right balance of fairly-traded imports and domestic production, the foundations of the UK manufacturing base at large could be put at risk.”
The company is overhauling its domestic operations following the closure of the last blast furnaces at its flagship Port Talbot site.
They will be replaced by new electric-arc furnaces that will make “green” steel out of scrap metal, ensuring the business complies with tightening net-zero rules.
Tata insists it is not against competition but argues that environmental standards in the UK mean it is not competing on a level playing field with foreign producers, who risk “overwhelming domestic production to the point where UK manufacturing capacity becomes unsustainable”.
It has warned that Britain risks losing “the steelmaking capability that countless supply chains depend upon” under the current setup.
The larger allowances for Indian imports came as a surprise to UK steel industry insiders and are thought to have been a last-minute concession to New Delhi as part of trade deal talks, the Financial Times reported.
There is also concern that the higher allowances for Vietnam could allow steel products in through the back door from China, where firms have been accused of significant overproduction.
“The Vietnamese buy cheap stuff from China, re-roll it and then sell it elsewhere,” one industry source claimed.
The Government was approached for comment.
Source: “AOL Money”
