UK steelmakers are likely to win lucrative deals to supply the 18 billion pound ($23.5 bln) nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point, not enough though to secure the future of Britain’s troubled steel sector, industry experts say. UK steel firms are slowly emerging from a crisis that has seen around 5,000 jobs, or a fifth of the workforce, axed since last October, thanks primarily to rising steel prices and a falling pound making exports more competitive. Britain approved the controversial, China-backed Hinkley Point project last Thursday, firing optimism its construction will also help arrest the steel sector’s decline. But to ensure its ultimate survival, the industry needs more infrastructure projects that use British steel, lower energy costs and, crucially, more measures to prevent dumped or subsidised steel from China and elsewhere from entering the country.
Reuters 22nd Sept 2016 read more »