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 2013-14, posting a net profit of JPY 192.7 billion ($1.88 billion), compared to a net loss of JPY 151.9 billion in the same period of the previous financial year. In the first nine months of the current financial year, the company's net sales amounted to JPY 4.04 trillion ($39.5 billion), increasing by 31.4 percent year on year.
According to NSSMC, domestic steel demand remained strong in the term under review. Reconstruction demand also stayed firm and economic policies began to show their full effects in the civil engineering and construction fields, while demand from the manufacturing industry increased on the back of a recovery in capital investment, a favorable turnaround in business confidence, and other factors. Steel exports continued to show signs of recovery but the global market conditions remained severe amid ongoing stagnant demand for steel materials, which was caused by persistently strong supply pressure from Chinese steelmakers. During the first nine months, NSSMC's steelmaking and steel fabrication segment recorded net sales of JPY 3.6 trillion ($35.2 billion), up 35.6 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, in the given period, NSSMC produced 36.53 million mt of crude steel, up 6.3 percent, while the company's steel product shipments amounted to 31.35 million mt, increasing by 3.77 percent, both year on year.