Podcast: Cautious optimism for UK steel sector recovery 

There are “reasons for optimism” for an upturn in United Kingdom’s steel industry, according to a new Speaking of Steel podcast episode reflecting on insight from the UK Metals Expo 2024.

Interviews with UK steel market participants – including Tata Steel UK chief executive Rajesh Nair’s comments on the steelmaker’s EAF plan for Port Talbot – feature in the latest episode of MEPS’s monthly ‘on demand’ steel market discussion. 

Joining MEPS managing editor Tom Sharpe on the panel for the ‘Speaking of Steel: UK Metals Expo Special’ are MEPS analysts Jon Carruthers-Green, Chris Jackson and Adam Crookes. Among the topics explored by MEPS’s panel of market analysts are the implications of the UK’s transition to EAF-based steel production, the country’s recently revised steel import quotas and the outlook for 2025.  

Commenting on his conversations at the UK Metals Expo, Jackson said: “I think you sensed that people have had to contend with challenging trading conditions for much of the year. There has been a realisation that Q4 is going to be equally difficult. Some people are referring to a need to ‘baton down the hatches’, but there’s certainly hope on the horizon. People do have cause for optimism.” 

Jackson told the Speaking of Steel podcast that the election of a new government on July 4 had removed some uncertainty from the UK steel market. Fellow analyst Jon Carruthers-Green highlighted the new labour government’s planned industrial strategy. It aims to follow-up the recent GBP500 million of funding to assist Tata Steel’s EAF transition with a further GBP2 billion to help decarbonise the country’s steel sector. 

Carruthers-Green also said that PMIs for the UK’s manufacturing and construction sectors have remained above 50 points during recent months – indicating growth. This is in sharp contrast to those of mainland Europe’s key economies.  

There is “reason for optimism”, Carruthers-Green told the podcast. However, he also highlighted a possibility that the pressure of inflation could persist, stalling the interest rate cuts that many people hope will stimulate a UK market recovery.  

“Interest rates could – especially as they’re being set by the Bank on England and not the ECB – stay a little higher for longer,” said Carruthers-Green. 

Listeners can access the ‘Speaking of Steel: UK Metals Expo Special’ podcast, in full, via their preferred podcast provider. Click below to access the episode on demand: 

YouTube 

Spotify 

Apple Podcasts 

MEPS’s latest monthly instalment of insight from the Speaking of Steel podcast series included a United States market overview. Click here to access the 12-minute presentation from US market consultant Laura Hodges. 

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