The government’s anti-dumping body has recommended that measures limiting the import of certain steel products be lifted after the decision to close the blast furnaces at Port Talbot.
The Trade Remedies Authority, which is charged with protecting UK industry from dumped or subsidised imports, said its preliminary view was to advise the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, to suspend safeguarding measures on imports of hot-rolled flat and coil steel for a temporary period of nine months.
The decision came a month after Tata Steel revealed it was looking to shut the last two blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales, which would result in more than 2,800 jobs being lost.
After the decision, Tata and the UK steel importer Kromat applied to the TRA to consider suspending the safeguards. These put limits on the amount that can be imported to the UK tariff-free, with imports outside that quota incurring tariffs of 25%.
The closure of the blast furnaces will severely deplete the volume of hot-rolled flat and coil steel that can be produced in the UK, meaning demand for imports could breach the quota.
The TRA chief executive, Oliver Griffiths, said: “These reviews are designed to prepare the current steel trade regime for future changes in production at Port Talbot.
“We want to avoid a situation where new imports needed to backfill reduced domestic production pay tariffs of 25%, loading additional costs on to the UK economy.”
The TRA suggested that, given Tata was the sole UK producer of these goods, it was unlikely that allowing more imports would create serious injury to UK producers.