Major Japanese Steel Companies Raise Their Earnings Forecasts
Japan Nippon Steel & Chemical Co., Ltd., JFE Holdings and Kobe Steel forecast the profits in FY 2017/2018 (April 2017-March 2018). Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. expects to grow 70% YoY to reach 300 billion yen ; JFE Holdings is expected to grow 240% YoY to 200 billion yen; Kobe Steel is expected to be 50 billion yen, a decrease of 5 billion yen from the previous forecast but said it is going to raise the profitability of its core steel business.
In addition, benefiting from the steady demand of downstream industries such as automobiles, the profitability of Japan's major special steel manufacturing enterprises increased significantly in the first half of the fiscal year. Although prices of raw materials such as scrap have risen, they have made money by raising product sales prices, selling volumes and lowering costs. In the second half of the fiscal year, these special steel companies are expected to maintain high-level production, but rising prices of electrodes, refractory bricks and other auxiliary materials will also exert pressure on profit growth.
