Iron and Steel: Imports
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether a market assessment of UK imports of grades of steel informed the decision to set lower quotas for the tariff free import of certain grades of steel.
Answered by Chris McDonald
The Government has designed the new steel trade measures to strike a careful balance between supporting the UK steel industry and maintaining access to essential imports for downstream users, including through the setting of quotas to allow tariff-free access.
The UK does not maintain a fixed list of steel grades that can or cannot be produced domestically, as capability evolves in response to market demand and investment. UK producers manufacture a wide range of steel products. The Steel Strategy aims to make steel production more competitive, attracting new investment and growing domestic production and capabilities.
Any revenue accruing to HMRC will depend on future import volumes, global market conditions and utilisation of tariff rate quotas. The purpose of the trade measure is not to raise tariff revenue, and therefore we have not made any estimates.
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