There are “reasons for optimism” for an upturn in United Kingdom’s steel industry, according to a new Speaking of Steel podcast episode reflecting on insight from the UK Metals Expo 2024.

Interviews with UK steel market participants – including Tata Steel UK chief executive Rajesh Nair’s comments on the steelmaker’s EAF plan for Port Talbot – feature in the latest episode of MEPS’s monthly ‘on demand’ steel market discussion.

Among the topics discussed by MEPS’s panel of market analysts in this episode, are:

• The implications of the UK’s transition to EAF production.


• The UK government's recently revised steel import quotas.


• UK's buoyant construction and manufacturing PMIs. 


• A UK steel market outlook for 2025.

Commenting on his conversations at the recent UK Metals Expo, MEPS steel market analyst Chris Jackson said: “I think you sensed that people have had to contend with challenging trading conditions for much of the year. There has been a realisation that Q4 is going to be equally difficult. Some people are referring to a need to ‘baton down the hatches’, but there’s certainly hope on the horizon. People do have cause for optimism.”