Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel Ltd (Kobe) has issued its financial results for the first half ended September 30 of the fiscal year 2014-15.
For the given period, Kobe Steel has reported a net profit of JPY 42.11 billion ($370.6 million), rising four percent year on year. The company's consolidated net sales revenues for the first half of the current fiscal year amounted to JPY 916 billion ($8.06 billion), up three percent year on year.
Kobe Steel produced 3.67 million mt of crude steel in the period in question, down 3.16 percent year on year. Kobe's steel product sales volume in the given period decreased by 4.2 percent to 2.94 million mt, compared to the first half of the financial year 2012-13, due to a decrease in demand from the automotive sector.
According to Kobe Steel, as a reaction to the last-minute surge in demand prior to the rise in the consumption tax, demand for steel products in the first half of the financial year 2014-15 declined in the automotive sector. Steel products were also impacted by production trouble at the Kakogawa Works. As a result, the sales volume of steel products declined on year-on-year basis. On the other hand, sales prices increased compared with the same period last year, remaining at similar high levels as at the end of the previous financial year.
Kobe Steel anticipates that demand for steel products will remain strong mainly in the domestic manufacturing sector, but the oversupply situation in Asia will remain unchanged. As the business environment is difficult to forecast, Kobe Steel will closely monitor domestic and overseas market trends.