Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal is a leading Japanese steel producer, announcing its intention to increase quarterly crude steel production to almost 11 million tons, starting on April 1, 2019. It is significantly higher compared to the actual quarterly release of the company over the past few years. It should be noted that the quarterly production volume is estimated at 10.3 million tons in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.
Earlier, during the month, the company reduced its annual profit for the financial period of 2018-1919. Another 6% compared to the previous forecast, mainly due to a decrease in the production of crude steel. The company reported serious technical problems at its steel factories in Oita and Wakayama in western Japan. At present, Oita is working at full capacity, and the new blast furnace in Wakayama is getting ready for work. Meanwhile, Katsuhiro Miamoto, executive vice president of Nippon Steel, said the expected growth in unprocessed steel production is likely to increase company profits next year.
The company expects domestic demand for steel products from the automotive and construction sectors to be substantial, mainly at the end of the 2020 Olympics, which will take place in Tokyo. However, the collapse of the Dam Vail led to an increase in prices for iron ore, which greatly impacted the company, especially because almost 30% of iron ore purchases by this company fell to Brazil.
It is expected that with the growth of production in other mines and other mines Vale prices will stabilize gradually.
