China’s Jingye Steel has urged the UK government to provide compensation following the nationalization of its British Steel assets, saying the move was carried out under emergency legislation without prior consultation or compensation.
Jingye acquired British Steel in 2020, when the UK steelmaker was facing insolvency, and said it ended nine consecutive years of losses within its first year of ownership. Over the following five years, Jingye invested heavily in upgrading production lines, bringing outsourced operations back in-house and restoring blast furnace operations.
The UK government took operational control of British Steel in April 2025, before completing the nationalization of Jingye’s UK assets on July 16, 2026, citing the public interest. The government has said an independent valuer will determine whether compensation is payable to Jingye.
At its peak, British Steel employed 4,887 workers, while Jingye said the business supported around 30,000 upstream and downstream jobs. The company said it paid a cumulative GBP 1.025 bln (USD 1.39 bln) in wages and pensions and GBP 180 mln (USD 245 mln) in taxes during its ownership.
Jingye said its UK operations faced significant challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit, the Russia-Ukraine war and the energy crisis, but maintained that it continued to invest in the business and create value for British Steel and the wider UK economy.
Jingye said it respects countries’ right to exercise their national powers in accordance with the law, but argued that taking its assets into state ownership without prior consultation or compensation was inconsistent with international principles governing compensation for expropriation.
The company called on the UK government to provide prompt, adequate and effective compensation for its losses and said it would pursue all necessary legal avenues to protect its investment rights and interests.
British Steel is one of the UK’s largest steel producers, operating the country’s last remaining blast furnace-based steelmaking facility at Scunthorpe. The company manufactures long steel products, including rail, sections and wire rod, serving the construction, infrastructure and engineering sectors.
1 USD / 0.73 GBP