Japan 2 Major Sponge Ti Makers Post Narrower Quarterly Loss

Japanese 2 major sponge titanium makers posted operating loss for April-December while the loss in October-December was narrower than July-September level due to recovering demand for airplane and general industry. Osaka Titanium Technologies revised the outlook upward for fiscal 2010 ending March 2011 while the 2 makers improve the production level and restart capital expenditure plan.

Toho Titanium posted 3.107 billion yen of operating loss in April-December while the loss was 574 million yen in October-December compared with 1.525 billion yen loss in July-September. Osaka Titanium Technologies posted 385 million yen of operating loss in October-December compared with 868 million yen loss in July-September. Better titanium demand contributed their better results.

Toho Titanium started the commercial operation of sponge titanium plant at Wakamatsu in Fukuoka in 2010. The higher depreciation impacted on the results. However, the sales volume of titanium sponge and ingot increased both for the 2 major makers.

Osaka Titanium Technologies announced expansion of sponge titanium output capacity. The firm revised the full year outlook upward to 6.5 billion yen of recurring profit for fiscal 2010 compared with former outlook of 7.3 billion yen of loss. Toho Titanium also announced the firm increases the sponge titanium production to full capacity at Wakamatsu and to more than 90% for Chigasaki plant in Kanagawa.