Tata Steel Is Set To Pull Out Of All Its UK Operations…

Might have escaped your attention but it was a Labour government eight years ago!!;)

Yes I’m well aware, but feel that not a lot was done subsequently by either government to address some of the deep rooted issues and practices hence my comment still seems to be valid. I think the support and leniency for the banks far exceeds what may be offered to steel.

Might have escaped your attention but it was a Labour government eight years ago!!;)

I’m sure the wonderful government will be as eager to help out the steel industry as they did their corrupt friends in the banking system in 2008. Surely they wont set double standards here, will they?????

My question was rhetorical I was quite sure it would not be here – and the same for our other manufacturers from steel, I am sure.

I hope the emergency cabinet discusses all the options for reducing costs rather than throwing good taxpayers money after bad. But I somehow doubt it….

Probably India…

In fact the current Jaguar range are Aluminium – so much less need for it.

This table is interesting and answers one of my questions – electricity costs for steel production in the UK are about 35% higher than in the Netherlands.

http://www.isi.fraunhofer.de/isi-wAssets/docs/x/de/projekte/Comparison_industrial_electricity_prices_final.pdf

And of courser the flip side of high domestic steel pricing is that manufacturers like Nissan and BAE Systems are able to buy steel at lower prices thereby making their products more competitive. Manufacturing does not exist in isolation. I wonder where Tata Land Rover buys its steel……

John – ‘Internationally’

That is my point. BAe rely on other countries to provide raw materials and parts.

“lost the ability to defend ourselves long ago”

I think that BAe Systems, combined nationally and internationally as the worlds second biggest defence contractor would be more than interested in that statement and perhaps cough discreetly.

I’m sure Cameron will get his mates in the EU to come to the rescue. After all They helped their steel industries.

Blue Sky

It isn’t a question of letting it go to the wall – it has already gone there.

This needs a measured reaction, not panic – if, as I said above, it is possible to isolate the debt on the business, can it then operate at a profit? The steel industry has been a problem on and off for as long as I can remember.

If it can be shored up for long enough to allow confidence to return, it might have a future. However, a future in which we blindly produce steel where there isn’t a market for it is just plain daft.

I read yesterday that as a commodity, the price of steel is pretty much in freefall. As long as China continue to pump it out at the rate they are (and at a huge loss!), that wont change.

I would also note that TATA purchased Jaguar Land Rover from Ford back in 2008, and it has gone from strength to strength, and is now the biggest car maker in the UK. Don’t be too quick to rubbish them; we have at least something to be thankful for.

The Welsh going for independence!! Well I see your tongue is firmly in your cheek. They barely voted yes to devolution…

Salient points, Bruce. And I have no doubt the Dutch also invested heavily. My question remains unanswered and in the absence of an answer s solution to the problem can not be rationally arrived at.

Cameron is saying Nationalisation of the British Steel Industry is not the way!

If those idiots let this industry go to the wall, I can see the Welsh wanting to break away from the UK and you could hardly blame them as the people in South Wales will never forget the damage Margaret Thatcher caused. by closing the “unprofitable” mines across the area, devastating communities. her actions led to the Miners’ Strike of 1984-85, which changed South Wales and Britain forever.

And now the Conservatives are about to let the knife fall again, destroying another keystone in the UK’s already shaky foundations…

TATA are dumping the BSI after gaining the knowledge of how to make high quality steel something they will now be able to produce at a vastly lower price than the West can make…

We’re off to hell in a hand basket!

Well, Tata has invested considerably in our steel industry over the years. The downside to that is that such investment will appear on the balance sheet for the business, and will obscure the true picture. If, as quoted Port Talbot is,losing £1m per day, how much of that is operational, and how much as a result of the debt it carries? That is the job for the government. If it takes on the debt, can the business continue to operate? I suspect not, but it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

It is specious to suggest that our industry would default to using British steel if we leave the EU. It will continue, as it does now, to use the cheapest option.

John, I doubt there is a single item from the defence budget that is produced exclusively in the UK, apart from toothpaste and toilet cleaner. In that, we lost the ability to ‘defend’ ourselves long ago.

If what we hear is correct we need to understand why the UK plants are being sacrificed whereas the plants in the Netherlands are unaffected. Is our steel so much more expensive to produce because productivity is poor, energy costs too high, local taxes unfavourable or all of these or none.

I haven’t heard the question asked so far.

The cost of producing steel in Britain is far greater than say, China or Russia, India or Poland. Quality however, is another matter.

If we can’t anymore produce quality steel, Britain, loses the ability – in large measure – to militarily defend itself.

The ‘winding down’ of heavy industry within the principal EU nations, is one of the planks of EU planning. The elimination of heavy industry eg. the ‘sinews of war’ is one of the means by which the EU ensures the pacification of the Continent.

Surely that’s good news.
An ideal opportunity to get the steel industry back in British hands.
Then when we are out of Europe.
Less imports more exports.
Can’t see it happening, but got to look on the Brightside 😀