On October 26, Japanese steelmaker JFE Steel Corporation (JFE) released its financial results for the first half of the current fiscal year (i.e., for April 1-September 30). According to the results, in the period in question the company registered a net loss of JPY 28.68 billion (approx. $312.52 million), while its net income in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year was JPY 153.08 billion. However, in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, the company registered a net income of JPY 12.8 billion ($139.31 million), compared to a net loss of JPY 41.5 billion recorded in the first quarter.
In the first half of the current fiscal year, net sales of JFE's steel business decreased by 43.9 percent year on year to a value of JPY 1.06 trillion ($11.58 billion), due to declines in both sales prices and sales volume. An ordinary loss of JPY 72.4 billion ($789 million) was incurred due to the deteriorated sales environment, despite the effect of low raw materials acquisition prices and efforts to improve earnings.
For the full fiscal year, JFE forecasts that it will record JPY 2.82 trillion (US$30.72 billion) in sales, which would be 27.84 percent lower than the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, and a net income of JPY 24 billion (US$261.47 million), down from a net income of JPY 194.2 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.