Daido Steel Increases Special Steel Output after April

Daido Steel, Japanese largest special steel maker, will increase the output of some special steel products with relatively long productive lead time in April earliest. Daido Steel’s operation would recover after “the historically output reduction,” said Mr. Masatoshi Ozawa, president of the company.

The firm had continued full operation until September 2008 with stable orders from major users such as automakers. However, the order receipts drastically dropped after economic crisis in autumn and the firm implemented output reduction by 40% for January-February 2009 compared with the peak. The plants are in 3-day-per-week operations from January.

Daido Steel analyzed the decrease in actual order receipts at 30% and the inventory adjustment effect at 30%, that is, total 60% output cut. The firm expects the inventory adjustment could finish during April-June and the firm’s output recovers along actual demand.

The firm judged to recover the production for some special products sooner, those which require large amount of productive lead time. The firm stops electric furnace operation in Chita works in April every year for regular maintenance for one week. For July-September, the firm needs to lower the operation when electric power charge is high. Consequently, the firm gradually increases the output in April.