Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel Ltd has issued its financial results for the first nine months ending December 31 of the financial year 2024-25.
For the given period, Kobe Steel has reported a net profit of JPY 102.81 billion ($676.11 million), increasing from the net profit of JPY 109.73 billion recorded in the same period of the previous financial year. The company’s consolidated net sales revenues for the first nine months of the financial year amounted to JPY 1.88 trillion ($12.38 billion), rising by 0.6 percent year on year.
In the materials businesses, demand deteriorated due to a decline in automobile production, a decrease in demand for building materials, and the slow demand recovery in the semiconductor sector. Meanwhile, in the machinery businesses, demand remains strong. The company enhanced its own cost reduction efforts, while striving to pass on the increased labor and logistics costs to selling prices.
Kobe Steel produced 4.53 million mt of crude steel in the period in question, up 1.3 percent, while its sales volume totaled 3.56 million mt, falling by 0.8 percent, both year on year.
For the full financial year 2024-25, Kobe Steel’s crude steel production is expected to be about six million mt, while its sales volume is expected to total about 4.70 million mt in the given year. In addition, Kobe Steel expects its sales revenues to total JPY 2.58 trillion in the full financial year.