Directions (1-8): Read the passage carefully and answer the questions asked below.
It would be foolish to pretend that there would be no problem facing steelmaking in Britain that determined state intervention could not solve. Global market power in steel production has shifted decisively to China while decades of underinvestment and a long-term decline in UK steel’s international competitiveness cannot simply be dismissed as unimportant, least of all at a time when public money remains tight. Tata, after all, is a company with a record of trying to take the long view. It invested in a new blast furnace at Port Talbot. But steel’s cost base, especially the prices it had to pay for energy, left it vulnerable to the glut that has followed the slowdown of the Chinese economy. China’s readiness to unload steel on global markets at marginal cost knocked the floor out of the industry elsewhere, including in the UK.
Yet the government should not be let off the hook. It has economic and social responsibilities. There are things it could and should do to defend UK steel – and things earlier governments should have done too. David Cameron may have told the industry minister Anna Soubry to do everything she could to keep steel alive. But the industry secretary, Sajid Javid, who rightly cut short a visit to Australia yesterday, is laissez-faire Tory who has not shown much interest. After the US imposed anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese steel, the EU could have followed suit, but the UK appears not to have voted for them.
Last year, after plants in Redcar and elsewhere, faced closure, the Commons business select committee produced a blueprint for greater government engagement in defending UK steel. This included compensation for high energy costs, reduction of business rates, a strategy to support UK procurement by ensuring that factors other than price were involved, delaying the implementation of directives on emissions and taking a leading role in adopting EU anti-dumping measures.
All of these made senses, especially in combination. Most of them still do. Steel unquestionably has a future of the sort that coal, for example, does not. It is ludicrous, therefore, that new government-backed infrastructure projects in rail, nuclear and renewable should not be supported to buy UK steel if the price is right and other conditions are satisfied. But it is tragic to be trying to make these choices so late in the day, under the threat of Tata’s sell-off, when they could have been made when the problems were already apparent months ago.
We are where we are, however. Yet the government can still do important things to help stabilize the situation in Port Talbot. It needs to work with Tata to win more time to make the serious long-term plans that should have been in place beforehand and which, if they had been, might have produced a different decision this week. It seems unlikely that Tata will make a quick sale, or be able to find a buyer, in current market conditions. But the government should be ready, with short-term loans, taking a golden share or even considering temporary public ownership of some form, if that is required.
Q1. What is the main reason for the retard in the Chinese Economy?
A. The investment of TATA in new blast Furness at Port Talbot which leads to the hike in prices.
B. It’s because steel production in the global market has experienced a boom.
C. The lubricious decision of government-backed infrastructure project regarding the Steel Industry.
D. Chinese Economy sinks due to the lubricious decision of government-backed infrastructure.
E. All of the above
Q2. Why the government is giving more attentiveness to nuclear and renewable projects in India?
A. The US imposed anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese steel.
B. It is because these projects can provide a good economic boost to the country. As the steel industry is dominating in the field of Indian for the infrastructure projects.
C. It is because the cost of these projects is quite reasonable and the output is also very efficient.
D. both (b) and (c)
E. None of these
Q3. Why the UK impose an anti-dumping tariff on Chinese steel?
A. China is the EU’s largest supplier of goods, but the exporters- particularly steel and iron- are illegally undercutting the prices.
B. The quality of Tata steel is much better than in China. As its availability is good and the quality is also fine.
C. Both (a) and (b)
D. Only (a)
E. Only (b)
Q4. What is the main theme of the Passage?
A. Domestic steel consumption in China fell last year and Bejing has been accused of using its exports to soak up any excess production while driving down prices.
B. EU imposes anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese steel to protect manufacturers.
C. Neither (a) nor (b)
D. Both (a) and (b)
E. Tata steel is proficiently improving in the field of global market power in the Steel Industry.
Select the most suitable synonym for the following.
Q5. Vulnerable
A. Unprotected
B. Defendable
C. Indomitable
D. All-conquering
E. Defensible
Q6. Laissez-faire
A. Socialist
B. Free-enterprise
C. Proactive
D. Exacting
E. Invention
Select the most suitable antonym of the followings:
Q7. Ludicrous
A. Sensible
B. Preposterous
C. Risible
D. Silly
E. Absurd
Q8. Beforehand
A. In advance
B. Ahead of time
C. In redness
D. Late
E. Immediately
Solution:
