Tata Steel has warned it may be forced to mothball steel mills across the United Kingdom, putting more than 3,000 jobs at risk, as the country becomes what executives describe as a global dumping ground for cheap imported steel. The Indian-owned company says suspending production may be the only remaining option to stem losses running at around £5 million a week in its UK operations.
Sources familiar with the discussions say Tata is drawing up contingency plans that could see production halted at multiple sites nationwide after other cost-cutting measures have been exhausted. Chief executive T.V. Narendran told investors in India on Friday that the company had already slashed fixed costs by more than £400 million over the past two years, nearing £500 million in total, leaving little room for further internal savings.
Company executives are urging the UK government to sharply raise import tariffs and cut tariff-free quotas in half, arguing that domestic steelmaking is being undercut by low-cost imports. Tata has expressed particular concern about steel arriving from Turkey, Pakistan and South Korea that can be traced back to China, making UK production increasingly unviable. The situation has been compounded by new European Union green border measures introduced in January, which have tightened controls on steel entering the EU and, industry figures say, diverted exports from the Far East toward the UK market.
Tata Steel’s finance chief, Koushik Chatterjee, warned late last year that Britain had become “an unfairly priced dumping ground for cheap imports.” In October, the EU unveiled additional protectionist steps that have further squeezed the UK steel sector. British officials are now in talks with Brussels to soften some of those measures, but the negotiations have also complicated Britain’s ability to impose tougher border controls of its own.
Government sources say there is support in principle for higher import taxes and lower quotas, but discussions with the EU have slowed progress. The delay has also been cited as a key reason why the government has yet to publish its long-awaited national steel strategy, originally expected in 2025. A government spokesperson said no final decisions had been taken, but insisted work was continuing at pace to protect the industry and that a long-term vision for UK steelmaking would be set out later this year.
Tata Steel declined to comment directly on the possibility of mothballing UK sites. Any shutdowns would be separate from the company’s flagship transition at Port Talbot in south Wales, where construction of what is set to be Europe’s largest electric arc furnace is under way with £500 million in state support. The shift away from blast furnaces has already resulted in 2,800 job losses, and the new facility is not expected to be operational until 2027. Until then, downstream mills producing packaging steel, pipes, tubes and coated products are continuing to lose money.
The uncertainty extends beyond Tata Steel. The future of British Steel, owned by China’s Jingye Group but effectively controlled by the UK government, also remains unclear, with officials declining to comment on recent discussions between British ministers and Chinese counterparts. Trade unions say the mounting crisis highlights a broader failure to deliver a coherent industrial strategy. Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, said the steel sector’s turmoil reflects a lack of joined-up thinking in Westminster, warning that without a clear plan, Britain risks managing one crisis at a time rather than securing a sustainable future for its core industries.
