Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel Ltd (Kobe) has issued its financial results for the first quarter (ended June 30) of the Japanese financial year 2011-12.
Net income of Kobe Steel was JPY 9.8 billion ($126.11 million) for the given period, down by 51 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous financial year. Net sales revenues in Q1 FY 2011-12 were JPY 471.41 billion ($6.06 billion), up 21 percent year on year, while sales of its iron and steel segment declined by 3.8 percent year on year to JPY 195.6 billion ($2.5 billion), due to weak steel demand in the automotive sector because of the massive earthquake which hit Japan on March 11 this year.
Kobe Steel produced 1.75 million mt of crude steel in the first quarter of FY 2011-12, compared with 1.98 million mt in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. Kobe's steel product sales volume in the given quarter was 1.44 million mt, down from 1.65 million mt in the same quarter of FY 2010-11.
For the remaining quarters of the fiscal year, Kobe Steel forecasts, "From the second quarter, demand for steel products is anticipated to recover in the automotive and other domestic manufacturing industries. In overseas markets, demand is anticipated to be brisk mainly in emerging countries. However, the volume of steel shipments is anticipated to remain flat in comparison to the previous fiscal year, due to the slump in the first quarter following the Great East Japan Earthquake."