Nippon Steel and JFE Steel Raise Pig Iron Shares in F2009

Nippon Steel’s pig iron production share upped by 0.3 points to 36.8% in Japanese market in fiscal 2009 ended in March 2010 compared with fiscal 2008. JFE Steel’s production share upped by 0.5 points to 33.7%. Meanwhile, Sumitomo Metal Industries, Kobe Steel and Nisshin Steel lowered their shares.

Japanese total pig iron production was 72.53 million tonnes in fiscal 2010, decreasing by 7.6% year-on-year. The production was 32.33 million tonnes in the first 6 months and 40.19 million tonnes in the latter 6 months.

Nippon Steel and JFE Steel suspended some of their blast furnaces and implemented wide-range output reductions to sustain productivity. Sumitomo Metals, Kobe Steel and Nisshin Steel reduced their outputs mainly by lower operating rate. As a result, inventories of semi-finished products increased at the 3 makers.

Nippon Steel and JFE Steel restarted suspended furnaces along steel demand recovery in the second half of fiscal 2009. The other 3 makers had to reduce their semi-finished product inventories before raising operating rate.

Pig iron production decreased by 6.7% to 26.57 million tonnes at Nippon Steel in fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008. JFE Steel’s output decreased by 6.1% to 24.46 million tonnes. Sumitomo Metals’ production lowered by 9.3% to 11.62 million tonnes. The production decreased by 10.4% to 6.96 million tonnes at Kobe Steel while by 14.4% to 2.91 million tonnes at Nisshin Steel.