Sumitomo Metals, Kobe Steel, Nisshin Steel to Post Recurring Loss for F2009

Sumitomo Metal Industries will post first consolidated recurring loss in 10 years. Kobe Steel will also post first loss in 8 years while Nisshin Steel posts loss for 2 years in a row. Nippon Steel, JFE Steel, Kobe Steel and Nisshin Steel posted profit in October-December while major 5 makers including Sumitomo Metals expect profit for January-March.

Sumitomo Metals announced on Wednesday the consolidated recurring loss was 58.6 billion yen in April-December compared with 222.8 billion yen of profit in same period of 2008. The firm expects 13.6 billion yen of profit for January-March.

The raw steel output was 3.26 million tonnes including output by the subsidiaries in October-December, which was 100,000 tonnes lower than same period of 2008. The averaged steel selling price was 79,000 yen per tonne, which was 51,300 yen lower than same period of 2008.

The firm expects the sales volume will be 780,000 tonnes for seamless pipe and 390,000 tonnes for large diameter welding pipe for fiscal 2009 ending March 2010. The volume decreases widely from previous year but the firm expects higher sales for fiscal 2010. The firm now expects the raw steel output is in line with the level of 6.63 million tonnes in second half of fiscal 2009.

The firm expects the raw steel output is 11.7 million tonnes in fiscal 2009, which is 1.17 million tonnes lower than fiscal 2008. The averaged steel selling price is 88,000 yen per tonne, which is 36,300 yen lower than fiscal 2008.