JFE Bars & Shapes Regains Profitability in F2010

JFE Bars & Shapes reported first recurring profit in 2 years due to higher sales volume and selling price. The recurring profit was 2.69 billion yen for fiscal 2010 ended March 2011 compared with 5.04 billion yen of loss in fiscal 2009. However, the firm posted 9.98 billion yen of net loss for fiscal 2010 due to 19.39 billion yen of onetime loss caused by the major earthquake compared with 2.47 billion yen of net loss in fiscal 2009. The firm failed to disclose profit target for fiscal 2011.

The firm reported the steel sales volume increased by 14% to 1.709 million tonnes in fiscal 2010 from fiscal 2009. The production increased by 37% to 879,000 tonnes for bar and wire rod while the production decreased by 2% to 778,000 tonnes for angle and other long products. The steel selling price increased by 10% to 77,500 yen per tonne while the ferrous scrap cost increased by 25% to 33,700 yen per tonne.

The sales increased by 25% to 132.42 billion yen in fiscal 2010 from fiscal 2009. The export rate increased by 2.3 percentage points to 25.3%. The operating profit was 3.53 billion yen compared with 4.38 billion yen in fiscal 2009.