Business Editor Mike Hughes gathers some expert views on the future of steel on Teesside
Steelmaking on Teesside still plays a vital role for our region, with hundreds of workers building the sector and pushing it towards its new green goals every day.
We have gone from a dependent to an innovator, leading the debate to find a future for the industry as businesses look for local quality.
The Scunthorpe Steelworks is still the UK headquarters for British Steel and the main blast furnace production site, but there is also the Lackenby Beam Mill on Teesside employing around 400, manufacturing large steel sections for the construction industry, including The Shard in London and the new World Trade Centre in New York.
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The Skinningrove Steelworks makes special profiles, including sections and crane rail. Work is already underway on a £26million upgrade here, to include product milling, machining and warehousing operations.
Tata Steel has also said it is investing more than £7million in the North East to cut CO2, improve capacity and reduce costs, with a new 'slitting line' at its Hartlepool Tube 'Mill allopwing the site to process coils of steel.
John McCabe, North East England Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive, told us today: “Steel is a vital commodity for UK industry both in terms of production and fabrication and should be integral to an industrial strategy.
"Energy costs remain a key concern for businesses, as was highlighted in our latest business survey, and this is especially the case for manufacturing and steel industries, which are key for the North East.
"Steel supports local jobs and economic growth and has done for many years, it’s vitally important businesses in these areas receive the support they need.”
So the investment is vital - and being made now, with the future being planned just a couple of miles from the former Redcar steelworks at the Materials Processing Institute, the UK’s national innovation centre for steel and metals.
Writing exclusively for The Northern Echo, Chief Executive Officer Chris McDonald said:
"Everyone everywhere needs steel. In the UK each and every adult consumes about a quarter of a tonne of steel every year and demand for steel continues to grow. In the next few years, we will see this demand accelerate, as we need ever more steel to go green, for offshore wind, electric vehicles, new nuclear power and hydrogen gas networks.
"We also need steel to protect our national interests. Whether submarines, ships, or civil infrastructure, if there is one thing, we have learned from COVID and the war in Ukraine, it is that international markets cannot be relied on to deliver essential goods - whatever the price.
"We need steel to decarbonise our economy, but the biggest challenge for the steel industry is decarbonising itself.
"Some progress on this is being made. In 2020 the Materials Processing Institute, based in Redcar, won the single biggest government investment in steel and metals innovation, a fund of £20m over five years.
"I was the first person to put a figure on what it will cost to decarbonise the UK Steel industry. In 2021 I was quoted as saying that it would take £6bn and this is now the generally accepted figure. I also said that we could only win this investment if we followed the example of other countries and committed to funding half this cost from the public purse.
"The Labour Party have since made that commitment, whilst the Government are in talks with the two largest producers, Tata Steel in Port Talbot and British Steel in Scunthorpe, over how much cash might be available.
"Such a decision cannot come soon enough.
"In recent years, the UK has clapped itself on the back for leading the charge on decarbonisation, when in fact we have been offshoring - closing down domestic industry and importing goods instead.
"If you need evidence then look no further than Belgium, a country with a population only 15% that of the UK, but a steel industry of similar size. If the UK Steel industry were to match Belgium's, in terms of relative capacity, it would be six times bigger than it is now. Think of the difference that would make in places like Teesside - thousands of highly productive, well paid jobs.
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"It is not difficult to see why the UK Steel industry has declined. It is the most high profile casualty of the gradual waning in our manufacturing competitiveness. High energy prices for sure are an issue, but investors in steel and manufacturing are in it for the long term and they need to know that government is in it for the long term too.
"Potential investors in industries from steel to silicon chips, batteries to battleships, are being feted by governments in Europe, the Far East and most notably with President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, in the USA. There is a global market place and a global price for winning this investment and if we want to remain one of the leading developed nations in the world, then we need to take part too.
"This is a once in a century opportunity, let's make sure we grasp it."
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