Tata Steel: UK’s biggest steelworks shuts down final furnace after more than 100 years

3 comments

1. Steel is one of the ultimate interchangeable commodities, maybe even more so than oil (where sour/sweet matters). A lot of steel just has to meet a requirement.

   Sure there are quality differences, but for the most part when a lot of cheap steel is exported it forces the receiving nation’s steel producer to export their slight-better steel to a wealthier economy.

   Western Europe is on the far end. We can make the highest quality stuff, but few things need it, and the energy/operating costs are really high.

   If you want to keep steel production in western Europe you need government support. Double so if you want to upgrade to sustainable methods.

   Neither is doable while it is owned by an Indian conglomerate.

   The state has to write the rules to ensure it makes a profit, only for profit to flow to India. If the state is investing enough to innovate, then either its the “unprofitable” kind of innovation required by law, or its a genuine improvement and the companies exec’s first priority is to move/copy it to India.

   Even if somebody tries to argues that is not how it works, no politician wants to explain that.

   Every time a new minister / government gets involved their default stance will be skeptical.

2. Watch this new electric furnace *not* open in 2028. Bongs are a laughable shadow of what they once were. Turns out balls don’t just regrow once you chop them off.

3. I remember reading about this, it was heavily pushed by Rishi Sunak, making deals with Indian companies being one of his things.
   Unfortunately a major concern with arc furnaces is that they are for recycling steel, rather than making new virgin steel. So from a resource security point of view, not good for the UK. The quality of steel made is much worse as well, estimated at only 90% of a blast furnace, which means you cannot make certain parts that require the highest grade (the example I saw was airplane landing gear).
   A lot of people also lost their jobs from this. I know a company is not a charity, but it is never really news you want to hear, especially with the current costs of things here. Tata Steel didn’t pay to maintain the coke ovens to keep the plant fully operational, then got handed our tax money £500mil to make the new arc furnaces and lay off a few thousand workers. They do not have to pay this back as it is a grant, and the tax payer does not now own a good percentage of the site. They basically just paid a private company money to make slightly less pollution than they were already making while operating for private profit.