§ Lord Monkswellasked Her Majesty's Government:
What proportion of the demand for steel in the United Kingdom is met by imports; what is the minimum number of exisitng steel plants required to produce 75 per cent. of total steel production capacity of the United Kingdom; and whether they will list those plants together with their rated production output, in descending order of output.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Lucas of Chilworth)Imports amounted to 24.1 per cent. of total United Kingdom deliveries of steel in 1984. In crude steel capacity terms, six plants currently account for 75 per cent. of total United Kingdom installed capacity: they are Scunthorpe, South Teesside, Port Talbot, Llanwern, Ravenscraig and Rotherham, all owned by the British Steel Corporation. The products of these plants, however, are not in all cases interchangeable. Details of rated capacity for individual plants are commercially confidential.