British Steel’s Turkish Rail Deal Comes as UK Steel Production Hits a Century Low

British Steel’s announcement of an eight-figure contract to supply rail for Turkey’s Ankara–İzmir high-speed railway comes against a troubling backdrop: UK steel production has tumbled to its lowest level in more than a century. The deal is a commercial win, but it also throws into sharp relief the precarious state of the industry it comes from.
The contract with ERG International Group covers 36,000 tonnes of rail for the 599km line connecting Ankara and İzmir — a flagship Turkish infrastructure project designed to cut travel times and carbon emissions. With UK Export Finance backing, British Steel won the deal against international competition and has since created 23 new jobs and restarted 24-hour production at Scunthorpe for the first time in over a decade.
But those production figures sit within an industry where overall output has fallen dramatically. UK steel production at its lowest level in more than a century is a stark indicator of the long-term decline of a sector that was once one of the world’s most significant. British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant is one of the last integrated steelworks in the country, and its future matters to the entire industry.
UK Steel has called for structural reforms alongside commercial wins — on energy costs, import safeguards, and long-term investment — to address the underlying reasons for this decline. The director general noted that “contracts alone cannot address the structural pressures facing the sector,” and that the government needs to act.
With British Steel losing £1.2 million a day and total government costs at £359 million, the Turkish deal is a bright spot in an otherwise deeply challenging picture. It is evidence that UK steel production still has value — but saving it will require more than individual contracts. It will require a commitment to the industry itself.