British Steel’s Turkish Success Story Comes With a Very Expensive Asterisk

The headlines write themselves: British Steel wins major Turkish rail contract, creates jobs, restarts overnight production. It is a genuinely good news story, and it deserves to be told. But it comes with an expensive asterisk: the plant is losing £1.2 million a day, and the total government bill since the emergency takeover has reached £359 million. Success, in the context of British Steel, is more complicated than it looks.
The eight-figure deal with ERG International Group covers 36,000 tonnes of rail for Turkey’s 599km Ankara–İzmir high-speed railway — a prestigious project that will cut travel times and reduce carbon emissions. With UK Export Finance backing, British Steel won the contract against international competition, demonstrating its technical capability and commercial credibility.
Twenty-three new jobs have been created, and 24-hour production has been restarted for the first time in over a decade — both genuine achievements. UK Steel has praised the deal, called it “essential to underpinning a sustainable turnaround,” and urged the government to follow through with structural reforms on energy costs and imports.
All of this is true and important. But the asterisk remains. At £1.2 million a day, British Steel’s losses are accumulating faster than any series of export contracts can offset. The plant needs structural reform, permanent ownership, and investment — not just commercial wins — if it is to achieve genuine financial sustainability.
British Steel’s Turkish success story is real. So is the asterisk. Understanding both — and knowing that one does not cancel out the other — is essential to any honest assessment of where this plant is heading and what it will take to get there.