Many in the steel industry think the future could yet be brighter as well as greener.
钢铁行业的很多人以为,将来能够愈加黑暗,也愈加环保。
Demand is expected to grow: building wind turbines, for example, will require lots of steel.
估计需求将会增长:举例来说,制作风力涡轮机将需求少量钢材。
Britain exports around 8m tonnes of scrap a year, much of which could be fed to EAFS.
英国每年出口约800万吨废物,此中大局部可以用电弧炉冶炼。
Steel companies will nevertheless be loth to invest without two sorts of government help.
但是,假如当局不提供下述两种救济,钢铁公司不会情愿停止投资。
One looks more likely than the other.
此中一种救济完成的能够性更大。
The first is a hefty subsidy for the switch to greener steelmaking.
第一种是为钢铁公司提供巨额补贴,协助它们向更环保的炼钢方法变化。
Canada, France, Germany, Spain and others are already doling out plenty for both EAFS and hydrogen-powered direct reduction.
加拿大、法国、德国、西班牙和其他国度为了让钢铁公司运用电弧炉和氢气间接复原技能而提供了少量资金。
Cash is on offer in Britain too: 300m Pounds each, it is said, for Tata and British Steel, coupled with a carbon border tariff, similar to one being concocted in the European Union, to keep out dirtier imports.
英国也在提供资金:听说,塔塔钢铁和英国钢铁公司各取得了3亿英镑的赞助,再加上碳疆域税(相似于欧盟正在订定的关税),以制止更龌龊的出口。
But that is less than the companies were asking for a few months ago, looks less generous than elsewhere - the French are putting 1.7bn Euros ($1.8bn) into two sites - and may depend on job guarantees.
但这些资金没有到达两家公司几个月条件出的要求,看起来也没有别的国度那么大方——法国将在两个所在投入17亿欧元(合18亿美元)——并且能够取决于任务保证。
The second is much cheaper electricity.
第二种救济是更低的电价。
UK Steel, the industry's trade body, calculates that steelmakers in Britain pay far more than those in France and Germany, which face much lower power-grid charges and “policy” costs such as environmental levies.
钢铁行业的行业构造英国钢铁协管帐算出,英国钢铁制造商的收入远远高于法国和德国的钢铁制造商,后者要领取的电费和情况税等“政策”本钱比英国低得多。
Switching to EAFS, which use a lot more electricity than old-fashioned furnaces, will make this hurt all the more.
改用比老式炼炉耗电多得多的电弧炉,会让状况愈加蹩脚。
Although the government is providing discounts to businesses to dampen the steep rise in wholesale energy prices, UK Steel complains that British steelmakers can still expect to pay around 60% more in 2023-24 than the Germans, who have been guaranteed a lower price.
虽然英国当局正在为企业提供扣头,以抵消飙升的动力零售价钱,但英国钢铁协会埋怨称,德国钢铁公司取得了动力价钱进一步低落的包管,2023-2024年,英国钢铁制造商仍能够比德国钢铁制造商多支付约60%的本钱。
Would it matter if the steel industry faded away?
假如英国的钢铁行业消逝了,会有什么大不了的吗?
Perhaps not.
能够没什么大不了。
Britain is a small steelmaker these days, 27th in the world, below Austria and Belgium.
现在,英国只是一个小型钢铁消费国,活着界上排名第27位,位于奥天时和比利时之后。
It imports more than half of its steel already.
英国一半以上的钢铁都是出口的。
But decommissioning and redundancy are also far from costless.
但老式炼炉的正式停用和裁人也要支付宏大价钱。
Steel towns would lose jobs that pay better than the national norm.
钢铁城里人为高于天下规范的任务岗亭将会消逝。
And steel, like energy, is something for which few governments like to rely wholly on foreigners.
和动力一样,大少数当局不肯完全依赖于外洋出口钢铁。
Steelmaking in Britain has muddled through for years.
多年来,英国的钢铁消费不断在蒙混过关。
It may end up doing so again.
终极,它能够还会如许做。