British Steel Planning To Close Two Blast Furnaces At Scunthorpe.

[dave50]

Mad Ed's net zero plans. The gift that keeps on giving. 

[Old_Geezer]

Well without proper blast furnaces they may seem unviable to keep going. It's one of many situations where a government should look after the needs of the nation, not let private enterpise be the sole providers and have them follow the cheapest or easiest route for them.

[sandyRoe]

Well, Trump won't be able to set tarrifs on our steel production if we don't make any.

Seriously, thousands of jobs at risk.  I don't know what the answer is.

[ynnafymmi]

@09.43.Sack Millibrain perhaps?

[fender62]

edd milipede has to go, not just because he's insane, but for the future of the uk economy (job) he obviously does not care about the workers, only his net0 utopia madness, your would think two tier would see this also.. it's quit mad.

 

[youngmafbog]

Yes, if the country wants growth Mad Milliband must go.

We have the most expensive energy costs now, nothing will be viable in this country if he carries on.  This is the problem with zealotry.

 

[Buenchico]

The UK should have accepted that we can't economically make steel several decades ago. 

The sooner the Scunthorpe plants are closed, the better!

[ynnafymmi]

The Chinese dont give a damn for all this net-zero lies,perhaps they will ride to the rescue at Scunthorpe.

[mushroom25]

// perhaps they will ride to the rescue at Scunthorpe. //

unlikely. the Chinese  can make and supply steel much cheaper from China than in the UK, even factoring in the large transport costs. they could install electric arc furnaces but clean raw steel cannot be made that way as they cannot smelt iron ore. making steel using hydrogen in any meaningful commercial quantities is still years away.

John Laurie had a phrase for the future of the UK steel industry....

[New Judge]

“…they could install electric arc furnaces but clean raw steel cannot be made that way as they cannot smelt iron ore.”

Indeed, mush. Many politicians seem to be existing in a make-believe world where they think everything they say will come true just because they’ve said it. For example, this makes amusing reading:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/input-into-the-steel-strategy/the-steel-strategy-the-plan-for-steel

“With an increasingly decarbonised electricity supply, and increased use of scrap steel in production, the UK industry is well-positioned to be at the forefront of the global transition to green steel.”

Most of the “green” strategy associated with steelmaking (and most of the plans the UK has in this direction) is recycling scrap steel. 

This mob have plans to use “green” hydrogen to produce “green” steel:

https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/green-steel

“The first commercial plants based on these new carbon-neutral technologies are expected to be available from year 2030, at which date a large part of the European blast furnaces should start to be refurbished.”

If Scunthorpe closes the UK will not have any blast furnaces left to be refurbished come the summer, never mind 2030 and if Iberdrola’s projection for their commercial plants are anything like those produced by Drax for their “Biomass with Carbon Capture  & Storage” then 2030 is probably very optimistic.

The Chinese will make as much steel as the world wants to buy (for so long as it suits them) and to do so they will dig up as much coal as they need (and buy the rest if they cannot mine enough themselves). 

All that Europe – and the UK in particular – has done in its ridiculous attempts to “decarbonise” their economies is to de-industrialise them. The emissions “saved” by this lunacy have simply been transferred elsewhere.

[Ellipsis]

It's already Chinese ...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjryeqrnldvo

British Steel has been owned by Jingye since 2020. The Chinese firm says it has invested more than £1.2bn into British Steel to maintain operations and claims it suffered financial losses of around £700,000 a day.

[Old_Geezer]

I thought it was.

I seem to recall wondering why they were buying it (or was that a previous Indian company owner ?) and wondering if the government had guaranteed them public money, behind the scenes, to run it. 

[Old_Geezer]

Ah it may have been Tata I was thinking of.

[Rosetta]

Another problem with out sourcing steel production is that it makes us very vulnerable to the whims of any tin pot regime or its leaders ( I am thinking of China,  Russia's invasion of Ukraine and how even friendly nations can turn on their allies eg Trump)

[Togo]

I posted this on one of Mrs O's threads in Oct 2015. The eventual shutdown of our steel making ability was planned. You cannot make weapons grade steel without a coke blast furnace BTW!

(( This article exposes the shameful policies that have destroyed our steel industry.

//This stems in large part from one of the last decisions made by Tony Blair as prime minister, when in 2007 he signed up this country to obtaining 15 per cent of all its energy from ‘renewable sources’ — wind and solar — by 2020.

According to the then chief scientific adviser to the government, Sir David King, Blair was supposed to limit our pledge to ‘electricity’, not energy as a whole, but there were ‘very tired people in the meeting … people just took their eye of the ball’. What a shameful admission.

The result is not just that household bills must be at least 15 per cent supplied by expensive and inefficient wind and solar power (what do we do when it isn’t sunny or blowing a gale?), so must high-intensity users of energy such as steel producers.// ))


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3278597/

[Old_Geezer]

Which is why that industry is a public ownership issue. We need to invest to ensure we aren't at the beck & call of some other nation. Necessities we need to provide for ourselves wherever we can.  Luxuries and commodities we can afford to buy in.

[Ellipsis]

Interesting article on the capitalist free economy ...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2gey6pvddo

I'm averse to showing statements out of context, so I'll just post something that sets up the premise ...

US President Donald Trump is a billionaire businessman who has clearly done well financially out of capitalism. But suddenly, thanks in part to him, the free market system finds itself under assault like never before.

[Rosetta]

A very interesting article elipsis, thanks

[Ellipsis]

Try focusing on the topic rather than me, Togo ...

[William51]

 This is a sad day. With our glorious history of invention with steel production coming to an end it just shows how ignorant and short sighted our government is. We will always use steel so to stop it appears to be plain stupid.