LIBERTY Steel’s submission to the UK Steel Strategy consultation has proposed decisive Government action in the form of strategic demand side measures, cost competitiveness and co-investments to reverse the long-term decline in UK steel production and set the industry on a sustained upward trajectory.

A key LIBERTY proposal is for new measures to drive higher UK steel production by stimulating demand for UK-made steel. LIBERTY believes a template from the renewable power sector, the Renewables Obligation on electricity suppliers, could be adapted to the steel sector in the form of a Steel Obligation. A well-designed Steel Obligation would stimulate demand for UK scrap from UK mills and enable more resilient, lower carbon value chains in UK steel and associated strategic sectors like aerospace, civil infrastructure and defence. The Renewables Obligation enabled a major rise in UK-made renewable electricity and renewable electricity investment and jobs.

LIBERTY has also identified several strategic capability investments that could be made it its mills if conditions allow. The concepts would enhance LIBERTY’s existing capabilities to meet the demands of the industries of the future and generate value to the UK economy. Future concepts include a new EAF and slab caster at LIBERTY’s Rotherham mill which could increase the site’s production capacity from 1.2Mtpa to 2Mtpa and provide the UK with the capability needed for the next generation of offshore wind towers.

An investment in LIBERTY’s Dalzell plate mill could enhance plate capability to service almost all fixed bottom offshore wind requirements, enabling the UK to internalise more of the offshore wind value chain and make complementary UK investment in wind tower manufacturing far more compelling.

Jeffrey Kabel, LIBERTY Steel’s Chief Transformation Officer said:

“GFG welcomes the Government’s recognition that a thriving, competitive UK steel industry is key to a successful, modern, low carbon economy. The UK steel sector, and LIBERTY in particular, has tremendous strengths and could play a larger role in growing the industries of the future like wind power, aerospace and defence and civil infrastructure.

Today’s global economic and political context means UK policy needs to shift to creating sustainable demand for UK-made steel.  As competing jurisdictions support their own steel producers and leave the UK vulnerable to global steel imbalances, the UK needs a new approach to its critical industries and capabilities.

Demand side policy measures and well targeted co-investments in UK steel capabilities could keep more value in the UK, meaning more prosperity and fairer outcomes for the UK billpayers and taxpayers.”

Note to the editors:

LIBERTY Steel Group, part of the GFG Alliance and a leading GREENSTEEL producer, is a global integrated steel business bringing together assets across the steel supply chain, from production of liquid steel from raw and recycled materials through to high value precision engineered steels.

• LIBERTY’s 1.2mtpa steel mill in Rotherham, Yorkshire and its downstream mill at Stocksbridge showcase the future of low carbon steelmaking. Rotherham’s Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs) turn the UK’s ample reserves of steel scrap into semi-finished goods before further processing at Stocksbridge into speciality steels for hi-tech sectors like aerospace and defence. Rotherham’s EAFs produce steel for less than a sixth of the CO2 emissions of a Blast Furnace/Basic Oxygen Furnace (BF/BOF) and this advantage will only grow with the further decarbonisation of the UK power grid.
• LIBERTY’s 0.3mtpa Dalzell steel plate mill in Motherwell, Scotland, is the largest and most capable in the UK, supplying inputs for the manufacture of essential products like warships, wind turbine towers and bridges.
• LIBERTY’s Hartlepool steel pipe mill is a major contractor to BP and Equinor’s pioneering Net Zero Teesside power generation and carbon capture and storage joint venture in Northeast England. Hartlepool is also one of the few mills globally to have an approved product for hydrogen pipelines.

Further information from:

www.libertysteelgroup.com

www.gfgalliance.com