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

New quotas to protect UK firms and jobs appear to be having opposite effect in products such as galvanised steel

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.

There aren’t enough orders to keep them running all the time, the company says, because of a surge of cheap steel coming from Asian countries that is threatening the viability of several UK sites that make similar products, and risk hundreds of jobs.