Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the recent announcement of changes to steel safeguard measures due to take effect on 1 July 2026, what assessment he has made of the availability of specialist steel grades and alloys that are not currently produced in the UK; what categories of steel products will remain exempt from the revised quotas and tariffs; and whether he plans to introduce further exemptions where no domestic alternative exists.

The new steel trade measure has been designed to strike a careful balance between supporting domestic steelmaking and maintaining secure, reliable supply for downstream users, including the makeup and length of the transitional arrangement to ease short term impacts. It is not possible to give an estimate of the volume and value of steel subject to contractual commitments before 14 March 2026 given that information is held by individual businesses. However, our measure design has been informed by last year’s Call for Evidence which attracted 100 responses from industry.

The measure has also been designed to only cover steel requirements that can be met in the UK. Where this is not feasible for technical reasons, for example where product codes contain both steel products that can be made in the UK and products that cannot be made, quotas sizes are being set with the aim of allowing continued availability of goods to UK downstream users without unnecessary additional costs. We will continue to monitor the impact of the measure and review it after 12 months to ensure the balance is right between producers and downstream users.