The People Of Port Talbot Must Be Pleased With Brexit (Not)

[Hymie]

[ToraToraTora]

A majority of Wales voted Leave.

[Hymie]

Because they were conned by the likes of Farage, Johnson etc – this is the reality of Brexit.

[Togo]

Net Zero means what it says on the tin. Zero Industry. Zero Eumissions. Zero Movement.Zero jobs. 

[Hymie]

As the guy says, there is no truth in net zero being to blame for the closure (as claimed by Brexiteers such as Farage) – it is Brexit.

[Togo]

Meanwhile in the World of thought and reality, the world’s second-largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal in Germany, has shut down it's blast furnace saying that energy prices made the procedure uneconomical. The steel giant also cited weak market demand, a negative economic outlook, and persistently high CO2 costs in steel production as reasons for its decision. ... Oh and Brexit. 

[ToraToraTora]

Tata's managing director TV Narendran said he was not ruling out further investment in natural gas or hydrogen powered steelmaking at Port Talbot in the future.

..... "If [natural] gas was available here we could have considered that even today," he said. - So there you have it ladies and gentleman another victim of the Net Zero rowlocks. The greenpeace guy had the cheek to say:

Greenpeace policy director Doug Parr said it was a "missed opportunity".

He believes some of the Port Talbot workforce could have taken part in a pilot to explore the potential of manufacturing steel using hydrogen.

What a pilchard!

[Hymie]

As ever, my mate Phil explains the full story, and the disaster this Brexit caused closure is for Port Talbot.

 

[ToraToraTora]

oh goody "your mate Phil"! Perlease!

[Togo]

Brexit again then?
https://www.ft.com/content/7095e5d7-7a72-483f-9464-52d36bac03f7

[Hymie]

I see that the Brexiteers are out in force – defending the indefensible (their beloved Brexit cult).

[bobbie22]

I have to talk about this.  I am originally from Port Talbot.   My Grandfather, my Father, myself and my son all worked in Port Talbot Steelworks.  It used to be so productive, as were all the other steel works in our country.  What on earth has happened?     

 

[andy-hughes]

bobbie - // I have to talk about this.  I am originally from Port Talbot.   My Grandfather, my Father, myself and my son all worked in Port Talbot Steelworks.  It used to be so productive, as were all the other steel works in our country.  What on earth has happened?  //

As I understand it, there is a perfect storm in play here, and not simply one clulprit, much as the anti-Brexit posters would like you to believe.

International markets for steel have become extremely tight, meaning that only plants producing the right steel in the right quantities at the right price are going to be viable, and as I understand it, Port Talbot is no longer in that category.

The demand for lower emmissions in creating steel products means that ageing plants like PT are not viable, and the cost of making them viable is considered not to be worth the investment.

Let's be realistic here.

The steel companies that control production of steel around the world are not stupid.

They are in business to make a profit, and they do that by running things in the most cost-effective way possible, with zero sentiment for history, communities, job losses, and so on.

If a plant is profitable, it's open, if it's not, it closes, and that's the bottom line.

They look at what makes, or saves them money, and what doesn't make, or loses them money, and they look no further than that, because that's how business works.

So screaming that "It's Brexit!" is a pointless knee-jerk reaction which is ignoring the changes in steel production that have been evolving for decades.

I live in Stoke, and our local steel works, Shelton Bar, shut down twenty-four years ago, when Brexit wasn't even a dream, and it was shut for exactly the same reasons - production efficiency, or lack of it, profitability, and the reality of investing in its future, if it had one, which it didn't.

Michelin Tyres in Stoke, one of it's biggest factories in Europe, shut its tyre production plant in 2001, 950 jobs gone.

And both these bsuinesses had the same sort of massive community impact that the loss of steel making in Port Talbot will have.

But for anyone to think it's down to 'Brexit' is simply dreaming up a convenient fall guy, when even a basic grasp of ecconomics, and how businesses work, any business, shows that this is the result of international changes in supply and demand, the increased demand for greener and cheaper production, and the need to still make a profit, which is actually the entire idea in the first place.

A little realism goes a long way, and bleating 'Brexit dun it!!!' is political propaganda mixed with emotional fantasy.

[bobbie22]

Thanks for interesting reply Andy,    Such a terrible shame,and there seems no answer,  but some countries are still producing steel somehow.  It looks as if Port Talbot will produce steel in a different way as it looks as they are changing their blast furnaces.  There are only two now, and there used to be five.   ( just a little footnote- my Grandfather came from Stoke and my Dad was born there!)

[bobbie22]

I just wanted to add that I am NOT blaming Brexit, just hoping that they can save port talbot Steel TATA. 

[andy-hughes]

Bobbie  - I appreciate your post did not indicate that you blamed Brexit.

I did not intend my response to suggest that you did, and if any unintended inference is taken for that view, I would wish to make clear that my post was aimed only at the Brexit bleaters who think their pointless knee-jerking has any traction in the real world.

[nicebloke1]

And to conclude we will be even more reliant on China and the rubbish they supply. Its nothing more than this government pushing their green policy. 

[Buenchico]

While I'm as anti-Brexit as you are, Hymie, I think that all UK steel production should have been shut down several decades ago.  It's long been obvious that UK steel plants can't compete on world markets, so it's ridiculous that they've been allowed to go on for so long.  

[davebro3]

//And to conclude we will be even more reliant on China and the rubbish they supply.//

I have several household appliances that were made in China - all are functioning well & seem to last as long as those made elsewhere. Not "rubbish" at all.

[10ClarionSt]

TATA also took over the oil refinery at Stanlow in Ellesmere Port some years ago - then closed it down. They have history.

[theshedman]

bobbie22, I am also originally from Port Talbot and know many people including my late father who at one time worked in the steel works.  It has been on the decline for a number of years now with the workforce getting smaller.  For Hymie to blame Brexit as usual is not right as when we were in the EU they wanted to cut as much steel production as they could in the UK and get it made in the big steel works in Germany and other parts of the EU still using blast furnaces in many cases.  A big problem with us not being capable of producing our own from scratch is that we will then have to import it and that will make it more expensive which in turn will also put even more green house gases into the atmosphere so how is that going to help.