Japan-based Nippon Steel Corporation has announced that it closed all its facilities at its Kure works in western Japan after 72 years of operations.
The company had announced back in February 2020 that it would shut down its Kure works due to a fall in domestic steel demand. Additionally, it also stopped operations of blast furnaces at the site in September 2021.
Currently, Nippon Steel has 11 operational blast furnaces in Japan. Yet, it also plans to decommission another blast furnace at another mill by late March 2025. This move will cut the company’s crude steel production to 40 million mt from 50 million mt.