Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel Ltd (Kobe) has issued its financial results for the first nine months ended December 31 of the fiscal year 2019-20.
For the given period, Kobe Steel has reported a net profit of JPY 7.22 billion ($65.69 million), declining by 84 pecent compared to a net profit of JPY 45.03 billion in the same period of the previous financial year. The company's consolidated net sales revenues for the first nine months of the current fiscal year amounted to JPY 1.39 trillion ($12.64 billion), down 4.1 percent year on year.
Kobe Steel produced 5 million mt of crude steel in the period in question, almost stable year on year. Kobe's steel product sales volume in the given period decreased by 0.15 percent to 4.04 million mt, compared to 4.19 million mt recorded in the first nine months of the financial year 2018-19.
Meanwhile, the company forecasts crude steel production of about JPY 6.6 million mt and net sales of JPY 1.89 trillion ($17.2 billion) for the full financial year 2019-20, ending March 31, 2020. The steelmaker also expects a net loss of JPY 5 billion ($45.49 million) for the financial year 2019-20.The previous guidance for the full financial year was for net sales of about JPY 1.97 trillion and a net loss of about JPY 15 billion.