Taylor's Engineering services ltd

China flooded the global steel market last year. 131 million tonnes of cheap steel and every firm in UK construction is feeling it whether they realise it or not.

Most people in construction know steel prices have been all over the place lately and this is why.

China's construction market has slowed right down but instead of cutting back production, the mills have kept running non step and started exporting the excess instead.

Last year they sent out 131 million tonnes. This was nearly double what it was three years ago. It hits global markets at subsidised prices that British producers just can't match.

The knock on effect here is that every major economy has had to introduce tariffs to protect what's left of their domestic steel industries. The US did it years ago, the EU has its own measures and the UK's new tariffs land on 1 July.

For anyone running construction projects right now it means prices are hard to nail down and supply chains that are less reliable than they used to be. You quote a job, steel prices shift, and suddenly the numbers just don't work anymore. It's a global problem but it's hitting UK sites every week.

How is it affecting your projects at the moment? Has it hit your pricing yet or are you yet to feel it?

Sources: OECD Steel Outlook 2026 — June 2026 Euronews — Global steel crisis deepens, June 2026 OECD Steel Committee — March 2026 session

Every cable has a breaking point. So do you.

Construction is one of the most stressful trades you can work in. 94% of construction workers reported stress in the past year. 83% reported anxiety. Most of them just got on with it regardless.

The industry rewards that mentality. Head down, keep moving, don't mention it. For a long time I was the same.

What changed wasn't the workload, that doesn't go away. What changed was how I managed around it. Getting off site at a reasonable time when the job allows. Not checking the phone at 10pm. Making sure there's something in the week that has nothing to do with work. Small things, but they add up.

Stress in this trade is real and it's not going anywhere. The jobs are demanding, the margins are tight, fabrication comes out wrong, programmes slip. You can either let it build up unchecked or get deliberate about how you decompress.

Nobody performs better when they're running on empty. Not on site, not in business.

What do you do to manage the pressure? Has anything actually worked for you?