Fabricated structural steel price index in the UK 2017-2023

In 2023, the price of fabricated structural steel in the United Kingdom has fallen by over 20 percent. That came after the cost of that building material soared between 2020 and 2022. Most of that price increase happened in 2021, with a growth rate of 52.6 percent that year. Structural steel is widely used for construction because it is durable, malleable, and strong, while also being cheaper than many other metals. For example, it is often used as a structural material for skyscrapers and other buildings, as well as for infrastructure.

Why has the price of steel increased?

Those price increases seen until 2022 have not just affected the UK, but many other countries around the world. For example, the cost of fabricated structural metal in the U.S. and that of structural steel and other steel products in Germany reached their highest growth rate in 2022. Supply chain disruptions along with a decrease in the global production of crude steel in 2020 were some of the main reasons for those price hikes in 2021. In addition to that, the price of iron ore, which is the main component of steel, and energy also had a strong impact on the final price of steel products those years.

Largest steel producers

In the past couple of years, China was by far the largest steel producer in the world, with a production volume that was well over seven times higher than that of the second country in the ranking: India. Although the United States was also on that list along with Japan and Russia, it was not among the leading exporters of steel. The reason for that discrepancy is that a big share of the production in countries of the size of the U.S., China, and India goes to fill their own domestic needs. Meanwhile, nine of the 15 companies with the highest output of steel came from China, with the rest coming from Luxembourg, Japan, South Korea, India, and the U.S.