Japan Stainless Majors Post Recurring Loss for October-December

Japanese top 4 stainless makers posted consolidated recurring loss for October-December while Takasago Tekko’s loss was wider than April-September period. Their operations were in loss making due to slower demand and inventory valuation loss for raw materials. They could post loss for the full year to March 2009 when they operate at less than 50% of the capacity and the demand condition shows no sign to recover.

Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel (NSSC) posted 12.712 billion yen of recurring profit for April-December with no disclose for comparative number. The firm, however, posted 858 million yen of recurring loss for October-December. The firm expects the firm could post big loss for January-March and the year to March.

Nippon Yakin Kogyo posted 4.064 billion yen of recurring loss for April-December compared with 23.617 billion yen of profit in same period of 2007. The firm revised the outlook downward to 12.7 billion yen of recurring loss for the year to March 2009 from former estimated profit of 3.7 billion yen as of October 2008.

Nippon Metal Industry posted 2.077 billion yen of recurring loss in April-December compared with 10.554 billion yen of profit in the same period of 2007. The firm expects 3.5 billion yen of recurring loss for the year ending March 2009 but the loss could be wider depending on the market.

Nippon Kinzoku posted 672 million yen of recurring profit for April-December, which was 78.4% lower than same period of 2007. The firm expects 1 billion yen of recurring loss for the year ending March 2009.

Takasago Tekko posted 815 million yen of recurring loss for April-December compared with 614 million yen of profit in the same period of 2007. The firm expects 1.5 billion yen of recurring loss for the year ending March 2009.