UK government seizes British Steel

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
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I’ve not seen this covered in METAR.

The factory, steel mill is located in the UK.
But, that’s not helping the UK maintain its autonomy WRT steel.

{ The [UK] government said the owner of the British Steel complex in Scunthorpe, the Chinese company Jingye, was prepared to cancel orders for the raw materials needed to keep its blast furnaces burning, a step that would leave Britain unable to make virgin steel for the first time since the Industrial Revolution

Parliament voted to take emergency control of the plant – and even reportedly used the police to deny Jingye staff entry to the site. }

To paraphrase the old meme: “May we live in interesting times”.

China has repeatedly cornered various markets
((REEs, solar panels, and more, soon to include cheap EVs, maybe robots))

and drive other (nonChinese) producers out of business, and thereby creating a monopoly.

China is accused of using state support and stolen IP and tech to “unfairly” produce goods more cheaply than can foreign producers.

Buying and closing a competitor has a long tradition in capitalism.
China plays this game, too.

The UK, by seizing this steel mill, prevents China from tightening its stranglehold on steel production, outside of China.

{ But the government’s hasty decision to take back control of the Scunthorpe plant, owned by Jingye since 2020, offers a snapshot of how countries like Britain are navigating an economically uncertain world: on the one hand, remaining committed to the globalization that US President Donald Trump is challenging; on the other, protecting industries that are judged too strategically important to leave to market forces. }

:male_sign:
ralph

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Smaller US corporates are on the edge of failing because of the tariffs. It won’t be long. Be interesting to see if TIG walks in with the US government.

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And the coking coal and iron ore to keep that blast furnace running, is coming from the US. There’s a concept, shipping coal to the UK.

Reportedly, another shipment of material is coming from Australia.

https://www.itv.com/news/2025-04-15/british-steel-scunthorpe-plant-raw-materials

Steve

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A&P was notorious for using predatory business practices: build a new store in an area, then sell groceries below cost, until the locally owned grocers were run out of business. Then A&P would run the prices up, a lot, to subsidize the next new store they opened.

One major class of beneficiary were the locally owned TV and appliance stores. The high prices the “fair trade” laws enforced, made Radio Shack staggeringly profitable, as they had volume buying power that the family owned stores did not, but they charged the same prices as the mom and pop’s.

The fair trade laws were repealed in the 70s. That enabled the rise of discount chains like Best Buy, which drove both the mom and pops, and RS, out of business.

Steve

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Are we shipping coal to Newcastle???

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Well, Scunthorpe is about 136 miles from Newcastle. According to Wiki, coal mining is still going on around Newcastle. Maybe the coal there is not suitable for steel making? Maybe the coal companies would not take an IOU from the UK government? The Beeb has been reporting on this, but has not made it clear why they are shipping coal from the US and Australia, instead of using British coal (and Norwegian iron ore, for that matter)

Steve

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