A proposal by Britain’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) to drop measures to limit the import of Chinese reinforcement steel are “utter madness”.
That’s according to the British Association of Reinforcement (BAR), which has warned against scrapping anti-dumping measures imposed on Chinese reinforcement steel after the UK market was flooded with cheap imports in 2016.
The TRA made the proposal, arguing that the UK needed to meet the fall in the supply of steel as a result of the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia and Belarus.
It noted that in 2020-21, 27% of total rebar imports came from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
Higher prices versus impact on UK producers
TRA chief executive Oliver Griffiths said: “We have a duty to weigh up the impact of dumping on UK producers against the broader effects on the UK economy of imposing tariffs. In this case, our assessment is that high domestic demand and international supply shortages mean that retaining tariffs on high-fatigue performance steel concrete reinforcement bars (HFP rebar) from China would push up prices for key elements of the UK economy, such as construction.
“Our judgement is that the impact on the British economy of higher prices would significantly outweigh the impact on the sole UK producer of rebar of removing tariffs on Chinese imports.”
CO2 and quality fears
But the BAR argued that there is “more than enough” steel-producing capacity in the UK and Europe. It added that in addition to harming the UK steel industry, the TRA needed to consider the CO2 impact of importing Chinese steel and safety concerns over quality.
Steve Elliott, BAR chairman, said: “The TRA proposals are an overreaction and do not fully take into account the manufacturing resources of UK and European steel mills. In terms of the significant additional CO2 emissions from importing Chinese steel and concerns over quality, the proposals are utter madness.”
He argued that Chinese steel is often manufactured using basic oxygen furnaces which produce up to five times the amount of CO2 compared with the electric arc furnace methods used by UK and European steel mills.
Elliott also raised quality concerns. The BAR pointed to findings in 2015 that some Chinese steel mills were adding boron to steel reinforcement to obtain commercial rebates.
“Even small amounts of boron can affect the hardenability characteristics of steel and this has potential safety issues for prefabricated welded steel reinforcement,” the BAR said.
