‘The line’s running half-empty’: Llanwern steelworks feels the heat from cheap steel imports

<p>New quotas to protect UK firms and jobs appear to be having opposite effect in products such as galvanised steel</p><p>At Tata Steel’s factory in Llanwern, south Wales, production lines that should be running full-time are now falling quiet for parts of the day, with workers being put on to maintenance and cleaning work while machines sit idle.</p><p>There aren’t enough orders to keep them running all the time, the company says, because of a surge of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/25/uk-to-halve-tariff-free-steel-imports-to-counter-glut-of-cheap-chinese-metal">cheap steel coming from Asian countries</a> that is threatening the viability of several UK sites that make similar products, and risk hundreds of jobs.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/23/llanwern-steelworks-cheap-steel-imports">Continue reading...</a>