Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel Ltd (Kobe) has issued its financial results for the first half ended September 30 of the fiscal year 2016-17.
For the given period, Kobe Steel has reported a net profit of JPY 4.1 billion ($39.8 million), decreasing by 69.4 percent year on year. The company's consolidated net sales revenues for the first half of the current fiscal year amounted to JPY 815.13 billion ($7.89 billion), down 12.2 percent year on year.
Kobe Steel produced 3.84 million mt of crude steel in the period in question, increasing by 4.6 percent year on year. Kobe’s steel product sales volume in the given period decreased by 1.7 percent to 2.92 million mt, compared to the same period of the previous financial year.
For the financial year 2016-17, Kobe Steel forecasts consolidated net sales revenues of JPY 1.69 trillion ($16.37 billion) and an operating income of JPY 45 billion ($436 million), respectively decreasing by 2.3 percent and 10 percent from the previous earnings forecast, due to the impact of sharply rising coking coal prices in the iron and steel segment.