Tata Steel to sell UK all assets

[I1L2T3]

Far cheaper to import the stuff than buy british made ?

 

Only because the Chinese are dumping it. There is nothing to stop them raising prices in the future once they have killed our steel industry. Basic economics says that will happen - once the supply is reduced by killing off European steel factories then the price will rise, especially so once the global economy starts to pick up and steel is in greater demand. By that time we won't be able to just open up steel plants again because the capital expenditure and re-skilling costs will be prohibitively high.

[ted77]

Does that include the social cost to the area? look at the state of south yorkshire after the pits closed, its taken decades to recover. Also when you don't make it then you're at the mercy of the suppliers

[JFKvsNixon]

Who's fault is that?...It's an industry that is the backbone of 'Great Britain'...Just watch how 'cheap' imports of any steel suddenly become bleedin' expensive following a shutdown of the British Steel industry.

 

 

It's not that we don't need the steel, it's that our manufacturing that buys the steel can't afford to pay the price that UK charges and remain competitive.

 

The steel is being sold on a world market, not just to us. So the price that we pay for steel will reflect what the rest of the world pays. So if the price does go up, it'll go up for everyone and our industry will remain competitive. What our industry cannot do is pay more for their steel when their competitors are paying less.

[foxy lady]

Ummm..Steel we don't need?....How come we import shed loads of it?

 

If we needed the steel that Tata produce they wouldn't have a problem.

 

---------- Post added 31-03-2016 at 11:35 ----------

 

Does that include the social cost to the area? look at the state of south yorkshire after the pits closed, its taken decades to recover. Also when you don't make it then you're at the mercy of the suppliers

 

That's odd. History seems to record the UK being at the mercy of the UK coal industry with regular power cuts as a result of strikes. But since the power stations imported much of their needs that problem seems to have gone away. We don't have problem with imports because if one source refuses to supply you just go elsewhere.

Not that there is a problem with supply of steel in the UK anyway. We import so much of it as Volkswagens and Kias that we just melt them down and recycle.

Edited March 31, 2016 by foxy lady

[spilldig]

The writing has been on the wall for steel for the last 20 years. It was a finacially wobbly industry well before China started producing it so cheaply. So what have the leaders of Rotherham (and other steel constituency's) been doing to attract other streams of employment?

 

Oh that's right bugger all because they know that those workers traditionally vote Labour. And now that those jobs have gone/going they can start peddling the tale that the only people to blame for the closures and now employment oblivion is the Tories.

 

These parasites have no interest in looking after their electorates they are only interested in the perpetuation of Labour votes.

 

Too true. For sure Labor never looked after working people.

[mossdog]

Yes it is. But as I've been saying it is a fraction of the unnecessary £4.8bn subsidy just dished out to higher earners.

 

This government needs to get its priorities right.

 

---------- Post added 31-03-2016 at 10:59 ----------

 

 

I think you are still missing the point. Steel is a national strategic industry. I find it disappointing that people are so comfortable with just binning off the industry and the communities it supports.

 

At the very least the industry should be subsidised until a viable solution is found.

The UK has a past history of propping up duds!

The government and the private sector have looked at the huge losses involved and decided there is no viable solution.

Of course people feel sympathy for the workers involved but unfortunately for them ...that's life!

[runningman1]

Tax changes to CGT for gains over £11,000, and tax changes for people earning over £43,000.

 

Combined cost: £4.8bn

 

They aren't subsidies.

 

However, I thought income tax had remained static, what change are you talking of that effects those earning over 43k?

[I1L2T3]

Too true. For sure Labor never looked after working people.

 

That may be, but that isn't a green light for the Tories to continue not looking after them.

 

Where is the cost-benefit analysis of what it would cost to close the plants, in terms of future lost tax receipts (from workers), the cost of welfare payments to support the up to 40,0000 workers (and their families) at risk, and the aggregate demand taken out of local economies because of a negative multiplier effect?

 

All that alone could cost in excess of £1m a day.

 

---------- Post added 31-03-2016 at 11:40 ----------

 

They aren't subsidies.

 

 

In effect they are.

[dvp82]

Who's fault is that?...It's an industry that is the backbone of 'Great Britain'...Just watch how 'cheap' imports of any steel suddenly become bleedin' expensive following a shutdown of the British Steel industry.

 

The thing is though most people want cheap, you only have to read on here with people posting anyone know of a cheap XYZ. Business are the same, if they can get the same stuff cheaper from the far east thats what they will do.

 

You may well be right about prices if our steel industry is shut down.

 

Who is buying british steel these days.

[I1L2T3]

The UK has a past history of propping up duds!

The government and the private sector have looked at the huge losses involved and decided there is no viable solution.

Of course people feel sympathy for the workers involved but unfortunately for them ...that's life!

 

Sometimes there is a need to sustain nationally strategic infrastructure and industries.

 

Further down the line you can guarantee the private sector will be moaning when the Chinese put the prices back up.

 

It's the problem with the UK: short-termism

 

---------- Post added 31-03-2016 at 11:43 ----------

 

The thing is though most people want cheap, you only have to read on here with people posting anyone know of a cheap XYZ. Business are the same, if they can get the same stuff cheaper from the far east thats what they will do.

 

You may well be right about prices if our steel industry is shut down.

Who is buying british steel these days.

 

British companies buy a lot of it.