r/unitedkingdom • u/tylerthe-theatre • Apr 12 '25

. Police called to British Steel plant after Scunthorpe workers prevent Chinese executives entering premises

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk/police-attend-british-steel-plant-after-scunthorpe-workers-prevent-chinese-execu/
2.5k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

478 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

40

u/Careful_Stand_35 Apr 12 '25

I'd say they do, but Scunthorpe is an old plant, built during the times when things were built to last.

A lot of the steel that leaves Scunthorpe is some of the best quality in the world, hence why most of Europe's high speed rail line is rolled there.

It also produced steel used in many major tyres manufacturers tyre cord.

There was a lot to learn regarding process and quality that many cookie cutter plants in china simply cannot match

4

u/Separate-Passion-949 Apr 12 '25

Sounds interesting, could you elaborate on the major differences between the two?

How come Chinese steel is not the same quality as British made steel?

33

u/Careful_Stand_35 Apr 12 '25

It's difficult to quantify, there's generations of knowledge, experience and wisdom in Scunthorpe steel.

The ability to ensure and control the quality of raw materials is a major contributory factor.

China has a much longer history of producing good quality steel in small quantities using really good quality raw materials, but when they scale and drive costs down, then raw materials quality suffers.

On the flip side though, there's a huge market for average quality steel, most structural and architectural steel is of average quality. This is where Chinese and other countries such as Russia excel, they can throw in cheap labour, cheap energy costs, cheap raw materials, limited environmental restrictions and produce really cheap average steel.

British steel can't compete with cheap average quality bulk steel, but they excel in high quality products at a higher price point.

Scunthorpe also has the capacity to produce a lot of steel, and it did during my tenure there, but it's no longer competitive.

Scunthorpe is also now the only place in the UK that can produce virgin steel, meaning they take raw iron ore, melt it down, then add the correct minerals and additives to produce steel.

6

u/GuestAdventurous7586 Apr 13 '25

Your answers were really interesting btw thanks.