The British Steel Industry Today

Most of the early developments in iron and steel production originated in Britain, the world’s eighth largest steel-production nation in 1979. The Iron and Steel Act 1967 brought together into public ownership 14 major companies and created the British Steel Corporation (BSC). In recent years BSC has produced about 82 per cent of Britain’s crude steel and is the largest steel undertaking in Western Europe. As a result of the widespread industrial recession, employment in the steel industry has been declining, both in Britain and in other countries.

The remaining (private sector) companies are represented by the British Independent Steel Producers’ Association whose members employ some 60, 000 people and account for over a third of the value of the industry’s turnover. The private sector is particularly strong in the manufacture of alloy and stainless steels and of finished products for the engineering industry. The main steel producing areas are Yorkshire and Humberside (32 per cent of crude steel output in 1979), Wales (32 per cent), the Northern region (15 per cent), Scotland (8 per cent) and the West Midlands (5 per cent).

About 75 per cent of British steel producers’ deliveries of finished steel products are used by home industry and the remainder for direct export, the major markets for which are the rest of the European Community and the United States. A large part of the steel used by industry in Britain is also subsequently exported as part of other finished products.

The castings industry plays an important role in meeting the needs of manufacturers for essential components for products sold both in Britain and abroad. Its main customers are the vehicle, mechanical engineering, building and construction industries. The British Cast Iron Research Association, the Steel Casting Research and Trade Association conduct much of the research and development in the industry.

Britain’s non-ferrous metal processing and fabricating industry is one of the largest in Europe. Its major products are aluminium (both virgin and secondary metal), secondary and refined copper, lead and primary zinc. Tin mining in Cornwall supplies about 25 per cent of Britain’s tin requirements but otherwise British metal smelting and refining industries are based on imported ores. Britain is also a major producer of the newer specialised metals including uranium, zirconium and beryllium for the nuclear energy industry, niobium for aircraft production and selenium, silicon, germanium and tantalum for electronic apparatus. Titanium and titanium alloys are also produced and used in aircraft production, power generation and North Sea oil production, where their lightness, resistance to stress, flexibility and resistance to oxidisation are especially valued. Nearly half the industry is situated in the Midlands. Other centres include south Wales, London, Tyneside and Avonmouth, where a zinc smelter of some 100, 000 tonnes capacity operates. Three large-scale aluminium smelters provide 85 per cent of Britain’s requirements for primary aluminium. The large non-ferrous metals fabricating industry uses large quantities of imported refined metals such as copper, lead, zinc and aluminium. A wide range of semi-manufactures is produced in these metals and their alloys, and, particularly in aluminium, firms are engaged in smelting, casting and fabrication by rolling, extrusion and drawing; advanced techniques of powder metallurgy and pressure die-casting are also employed. In recent years considerable progress has been made in the development of ‘superplastic’ alloys, which are more ductile and elastic than conventional alloys.

Scientific and technological research for the industry is conducted by the Warren Spring Laboratory of the Department of Industry and by the British Non-Ferrous (BNF) Metals Technology Centre.