从全球范围看，后金融危机时期各国经济复苏乏力，有效需求疲软，全球钢铁产能过剩问题突出，钢铁企业处境艰难是普遍现象。不仅仅是英国，整个欧洲、中国乃至全球的钢铁产业都面临困境。

Second, in the post-financial crisis era, recovery stays weak and demand remains scarce in most of the economies. Steel overcapacity thus becomes an acute issue worldwide and steelmakers, wherever they are, face similar difficulties. The UK is not alone. Steel companies in Europe, China and beyond are all trapped in the same predicament.

从英国自身看，钢铁业能源、环境、劳工等方面成本居高不下，在全球钢铁业激烈竞争的背景下，英国钢铁企业在普通或低端钢材生产上总体缺乏竞争力，盈利空间狭小。

Third, the price of steel production, including energy, labour and environmental costs, is rather high here in the UK. In face of fierce global competition, British companies in general are less competitive and less profitable in the field of ordinary and low-end steel production.

中国钢铁出口与英国钢铁业的困境没有因果关系。中国向英国出口的钢铁十分有限。2015年，英国钢铁进口量666万吨，进口总额59.8亿美元。其中，自中国进口76万吨，仅占其钢铁进口量11%；自中国进口金额4.57亿美元，仅占钢铁进口总额的7.6%。中国向英国出口的钢铁，无论从数量还是金额上来看，都只占英国钢铁进口的很小部分。况且中国向英国出口的主要是普通钢铁条杆和板材等低附加值产品，是对英国钢铁市场的有益补充。英国即使不从中国进口，也会从其他国家进口这类钢材。因此，中国钢铁出口不构成对英国市场的冲击。相反，英国从中国进口钢材有效降低了英汽车、机械和建筑等行业的生产成本，提高了相关行业的利润空间。还需强调的是，中国没有鼓励钢铁产品"倾销"，中国钢铁企业向英国出口钢铁产品完全遵循市场原则。

Steel imported from China, amounts of which are very limited, has little to do with the predicament of the UK's steel industry. In both volume and value, steel from China makes up only a fraction of the UK's total steel imports. In 2015, for example, of the UK's 6.66m tons of imports, only 11pc, or 760,000 tons, were from China. If put in value, that was $457m, only 7.6pc of the $5.98bn total. Moreover, steel products from China are mostly low value-added, such as ordinary steel rods and plates, which Britain no longer makes and would have to import from other countries anyway. Therefore, imports from China have no impact upon the British steel market. On the contrary, by importing steels from China, the auto, machinery, construction and other British industries have effectively lowered their costs and increased their profit margin. And imports from China are not "dumping", as some claim. The Chinese steel manufacturers have followed market rules strictly when exporting to Britain.