On Friday, January 23,
Japan's biggest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp. announced a cut in
production by a record amount of 4 million mt, from the previously planned 2 million mt, for the fiscal year through March, due to the auto demand slump.
The reduction in question, meaning a decrease of more than 12 percent from 33 million mt the previous year, is to be achieved by temporarily shutting down from February a blast furnace at Oita Works and not restarting it until May. The closure for maintenance had previously been planned for March.
The company is also considering suspending operations at another blast furnace located at Kimitsu Works.