UK and European steel market participants renewed calls for the European Union and the United Kingdom to reach an agreement and avoid continued market uncertainty after the UK was granted a six-month extension to delay Brexit until Thursday October 31.
The latest extension has also averted the prospect of the UK having to leave the EU without a deal on Friday April 12. A "no deal" Brexit would mean the UK would leave the EU, and all related agreements and bodies, without a transition period. No preferential tariffs would be in place for UK exports to anywhere in the world. "For the second time in a matter of weeks, the UK came perilously close to a cliff edge 'no deal' Brexit, we are pleased that the EU has further delayed this disaster. It is now incumbent on all sides of the Brexit debate to ensure that we do not come that close again," Gareth Stace, director of industry body UK Steel, told Fastmarkets on Friday. "Any [type of] Brexit which limits free and frictionless trade is a bad Brexit for the steel sector, and until last night we were heading...