Yorkshire-based steelwork manufacturer
Tadweld warns steel fabricators, warehouse construction projects and industrial manufacturers are facing growing pressure from higher material costs, squeezed margins and a trade policy disadvantaging downstream manufacturers.
Thousands of UK manufacturers that rely on steel are facing increasing cost pressures as the Government's latest steel trade measures take effect, with Yorkshire manufacturing and steel fabrication specialist Tadweld warning that downstream businesses risk being placed at a competitive disadvantage.
The Government introduced revised steel trade measures on 1 July 2026, reducing tariff-free import quotas and applying a 50% tariff to eligible steel imports above those limits.
According to Tadweld, this has had an immediate impact, with its own purchasing data illustrating the scale of the cost pressures currently facing British manufacturers.
Comparing its actual purchasing costs over the last three months with its average costs over the last 12 months, Tadweld found significant increases across several key material categories, with mild steel sections up 24.51% and aluminium sections up 30.63%.
Furthermore, the figures show that the pressure is not limited to one material. For Tadweld, mild steel is particularly important for mezzanines, staircases and general construction, while stainless steel is used in products including hoppers, workbenches, handrails and for hygienic structures. Aluminium, which has seen the largest increase, is used extensively as flooring options as aluminium Durbar decking and in lightweight fabrications.
Chris Houston, (pictured) managing director at Tadweld, said: “These are real prices that we've paid, rather than a theoretical market estimate, and they show the pressure manufacturers are dealing with. Of course there are several factors causing supply chain disturbance at the moment, but the recent tariffs have exacerbated this. It’s had a real and negative impact on UK manufacturing.
“The increase in mild steel sections is particularly significant because sections are a major input cost across the construction sector, and for us we use a lot of them in products such as mezzanines, staircases and general structural steel work.
“For manufacturers, the issue isn't simply the price of the material in isolation. It's what happens to the margin on the finished product when your input costs rise and you've already committed to a customer price.”
Tadweld argues that the impact of higher steel prices can be particularly severe for downstream manufacturers because they sit between raw material suppliers and the end customer.
While UK fabricators may face higher costs for raw structural steel, imported fabricated steel products can continue to enter the UK market without facing the same increase in their underlying production costs.
That creates what is known in the industry as the ‘fabricated product loophole’, which creates an uneven playing field for domestic businesses that fabricate, weld and engineer steel into finished products.
Chris Houston added: “Whilst supporting UK steel production is a positive objective, we also need to consider the thousands of manufacturers who buy that steel, fabricate it and supply projects across construction, engineering and infrastructure.
“Our concern is that UK businesses are paying more for the raw materials that they need while competing against imported fabricated products that haven't faced the same cost pressures.
“As a result, the policy simply shifts the burden further down the supply chain and rather than strengthening British manufacturing as a whole, it prioritises steel manufacturing above the actual fabricators and manufacturers that use it.”
Tadweld is calling on the Government to work with steel producers, fabricators and manufacturers to ensure future trade policy supports the competitiveness of the entire UK steel supply chain, rather than one part of it, and prevents policies designed to protect British industry from inadvertently pushing fabrication work overseas.