Japanese steelmaker
Kobe Steel Ltd (Kobe) has issued its financial results for the fiscal year 2014-15 ended March 31.
For the given period,
Kobe Steel has reported a net profit of JPY 86.5 billion ($725.2 million), rising 23.3 percent year on year. The company's consolidated net sales revenues for the whole financial year amounted to JPY 1.88 trillion ($15.7 billion), up 3.4 percent year on year.
Kobe Steel produced 7.48 million mt of crude steel in the period in question, down 1.83 percent year on year. Kobe's steel product sales volume in the given period decreased by 3.5 percent to 6.05 million mt, compared to the financial year 2013-14, due to declining automotive demand in
Japan following the last-minute surge in demand before the rise in the consumption tax in April 2014.
According to
Kobe Steel, demand in the automotive sector in early FY 2015-16 is anticipated to be soft due to inventory adjustments by customer companies. However, demand is anticipated to recover in the second half of the financial year and demand from the shipbuilding and other industries is anticipated to generally remain strong. On the other hand, no change is anticipated in the oversupply situation of steel products in the Asian region. In addition, there is concern over stagnant energy-related demand due to low oil prices, in North America, Russia, and emerging countries, as well as economic sluggishness.