Nisshin Steel Gains Tool Steel Output Share in F2009

Nisshin Steel increased Japanese tool steel output share by 8.2 percentage points to 34.5% in fiscal 2009 ended March 2010 from fiscal 2008. The Japanese output decreased by 33.1% to 153,577 tonnes, which represented the worst volume and drop of range in 10 years when automobile and home electronics demand decreased due to the global economy deterioration. All Japanese steel makers’ output significantly decreased.

Nisshin Steel stayed in the first position in tool steel output share ranking in fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008 while the output decreased by 12.3% to 52,949 tonnes. JFE Steel, which decreased the share by 1.2 points to 21.6%, was up to 2nd position from 3rd position while Hitachi Metals was down to 3rd position, decreasing the share by 3.7 points to 20.6%. The output decreased by 36.8% to 33,146 tonnes for JFE Steel and by 43.1% to 31,682 tonnes for Hitachi Metals.

Daido Steel stayed in 4th position in fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008 while the output share decreased by 4.4 points to 13.4% and the output declined by 49.6% to 20,643 tonnes. Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp’s share decreased by 0.7 point to 2.1% and the output decreased by 50.1% to 3,176 tonnes.