Committee publication · Correspondence · 16 June 2026
Letter from UK Steel relating to the Committee's letter to the Secretary of State on steel import quotas, 11 June 2026
From: Business and Trade Committee
Inquiry: Industrial Strategy
Summary
UK Steel responds to the Business and Trade Committee's 11 June letter on steel import quotas, defending the government's quota measures and rejecting calls for delays, product exemptions, or tariff reductions. The organisation addresses eight specific concerns raised by the Committee, arguing quotas are necessary to counter global trade diversion and Chinese overcapacity, while proposing targeted flexibility for companies ramping up production.
Key findings
- UK Steel opposes broad product exemptions from quotas, citing experience in US and EU where exemptions became exploitable loopholes; supports targeted authorised use schemes instead (e.g. Category 1B for Tata Steel's £1.25bn electric arc furnace investment).
- Rejects calls for delay or tapering of the entire measure, characterising them as unnecessary given 12+ months of government consultation and the measure's replacement of an eight-year-old expiring quota.
- Proposes phased quota reductions only for Speciality Steels UK (SSUK) categories (12A, 12B, 13, 16) to align with December 2026 furnace restart, not system-wide easing.
- Argues UK manufacturers face greater exposure than US/Canadian counterparts because government has not extended trade defence measures downstream; proposes extending protection to downstream sectors including fabricators and aerospace.
- Disputes claims of excessive protection: Category 25B quota is 64.7% larger than 2025 imports; Category 4 quota allows 16.9% tariff-free import growth; Category 12B quota is 26.5% larger than recent imports.
Tone
AdversarialTopics
Key actors
UK Steel (EEF Limited), Gareth Stace (Director General, UK Steel), Liam Byrne MP (Business and Trade Committee Chair), Peter Kyle MP (Secretary of State for Business & Trade), Chris Bryant MP (Minister of State for Trade), Chris McDonald MP (Minister for Industry), Department for Business and Trade (DBT), Tata Steel
Notable line
“If the traders are still not happy when quotas allow them to increase imports by 16.9% tariff free, then perhaps they never will be.”
Key Quotes
“… exemption mechanisms have widely failed in the past. They often become loopholes that traders exploit to substitute protected products.”
“The call for a delay to the measure is a non-starter. Complaints that the market has not had time to adapt to are largely unfounded, as the new quota replaces an expiring measure that has been in place for eight years.”
“The UK is a natural market for redirected steel. Considering our market is only 10 million tonnes, it is easy to see how devastating this trade diversion could be.”
“China has increased its subsidy rate from 10 times to 15 times the OECD average over the past year. This further distorts international steel prices at a time when production input costs are rising.”
“A symbiotic relationship exists between British Steel and major UK fabricators. British Steel would lose UK STEEL is a trading name of EEF Limited. Registered Office: Broadway House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NQ. Registered in England and Wales No.”
“UK Steel was required to provide substantial data to justify our call for support, and our members supplied a huge amount of information to prove that specific commodity codes fall within their production capabilities.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗