Cleveland Steel sells almost exclusively non-prime steel tubes and hollow sections.

Non-prime is a term used in the UK steel industry and trade to identify materials that are merchantable but do not or cannot carry the mill certification that is available for prime, fully certified, goods.

These non-prime products arise in various ways, sometimes in very large quantities:-

- Steel tube mills sell their production over rollings and downgraded goods (tubes that cannot meet all the requirements of existing tubes specifications) under this description.

- Surplus tubes arise at the end of engineering contracts undertaken by oil, chemical and civil engineering companies and steel fabricators.

- Redundant stocks result from products obsolescence or purchasing errors throughout industry.

- From time to time, demolition contracts yield good quality reusable tubes.

The way in which these non-prime products arise means that we cannot specify the tubes sizes we purchase. To be able to meet the requirements of our customers and compete effectively in the market, we have to stock large quantities of tubes. Over the years our stock levels have fluctuated between 45,000 and 65,000 tonnes.