Quote:
Originally Posted by Stop It
I keep on hearing this, but if Chinese Steel was so much worse, wouldn't customers value the higher quality enough to pay for it? After all, if this steel is so rubbish that it would have a higher TCO than the alternatives, only a fool would buy it.
I suspect that it's all too easy to demonise a competitor by calling them rubbish, while at the same time actual customers of the stuff don't seem to be saying the same thing.
Again, blame China for causing the crash ignores the fact that steel production, iron ore mining etc spiked in the last decade thanks to higher demand and thus prices. The higher demand came from China. So, blame them for the crash sure, thank them for giving the industries 10 years of profits first. Also, this isn't a new thing. Basically Iron/Steel went mad up until 2009, cratered and hasn't recovered since. PT has been losing money for a good while, and the last year has only caused more pain. While Anti-Dumping tariffs would make a dent, it would not make this plant profitable.
|
If you look at the graphs
in the BBC link, then you can see UK steel production dropped from 17,000tonnes in 1997 to 11,500tonnes by 2005(BEFORE banking problems) and 10,000tonnes by 2010. It recovered a bit in the past few years. The workforce went from around 35,000 in 1997 to less than 20,000 by 2010. Who was in Government during those years?
Quote:
|
The steel industry says it has been hit by a combination of factors: high UK energy prices, the extra cost of climate change policies, and competition from China - there have been allegations that Chinese steel is being sold in the UK at unrealistically low prices.
|