UK industry could supply 8m tonnes of steel in a decade – report

The government has published its latest report on the amount of UK-made steel it has purchased, alongside its estimate of the steel it will need over the next decade.

The report shows a future demand of eight million tonnes of steel that government projects will need in the next decade.

The UK is progressing towards actively considering purchasing domestically produced steel, resulting in a year-on-year increase in UK steel companies supplying major infrastructure projects, with a total value of £299m. 

The biggest purchasers of steel over the last year were transport projects, with major rail and highway contracts featuring prominently. This follows positive and proactive engagement between the Department for Transport, UK Steel, and UK steel producers over the last year, helping drive awareness of readiness of the industry to contribute to major projects.

Whilst there is continued improvement in data reporting by departments and an increase of steel purchased from the UK, there remained approximately £15m of steel orders that could have been purchased in the UK, but ultimately were purchased by contractors from sources abroad – depriving the UK economy of the benefits of domestic procurement.

UK Steel and industry stand ready to work with government and other stakeholders to realise significant opportunities for UK steelmakers to supply the six million tonnes of steel required for offshore wind projects over the coming decade.

UK Steel director general, Gareth Stace, said: “UK Steel welcomes the government’s commitment to the steel industry, with the publication of the new steel public procurement data. It is brilliant to see public projects are increasingly made with British-made steel, and improvements are made to future forecast demand alongside better origin data for steel.

"We look forward to our continued partnership with government on this programme as UK steelmakers aim to offer more and more steel to the projects that make up the backbone of our society, from new hospitals to schools and defence purposes.

“However, there is a significant amount of work to do to ensure UK steelmakers are given the opportunity to demonstrate their capability and capacity to support our green energy transition.”

UK Steel
www.uksteel.org