The world's second biggest steelmaker Japan-based Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. (NSSMC) has announced its financial results for the first nine months ended December 31 of the financial year 2015-16, posting a net profit of JPY 153.03 billion ($2.26 billion), declining by 0.4 percent year on year. In the given period, the company's net sales amounted to JPY 3.72 trillion ($30.69 billion), compared to net sales of JPY 4.2 trillion in the same period of the previous financial year.
During the April-December period, NSSMC's steelmaking and steel fabrication segment recorded net sales of JPY 3.26 trillion ($18.22 billion), decreasing by 12 percent year on year. NSSMC stated that Japan’s steel market had a weak undertone due to sluggish capital investment and other factors. Regarding overseas steel demand, on top of the slowdown in steel demand in China, the ASEAN region also experienced stagnant demand. At the same time, the slumping oil market led to sluggish steel demand from the energy sector. In the international steel market, partly due to the impacts from falling primary raw material prices and supply pressure from exports by Chinese steelmakers, prices declined significantly from the summer.
Meanwhile, in the third quarter of the 2015-16 financial year, NSSMC produced 11.14 million mt of crude steel, down 5.8 percent, while the company's steel product shipments amounted to 9.99 million mt, decreasing by 3.2 percent, both year on year.