Kobe Steel Ltd, Japan's third-largest steelmaker, said on Tuesday it planned to boost crude steel output by 2.9 per cent to 7.7 million tonnes in the year to March 2016 as it expected automobile and construction demand to rebound at home.
"There is a high level of inventory at home now due to weak demand in the automobile segment, but we expect to see a recovery from July-September quarter on a pickup in automobile output, solid demand from shipbuilders and increasing number of construction projects of high-rise buildings," Executive Vice President Naoto Umehara said.
Kobe Steel's output for the year just ended totalled 7.48 million tonnes, down 1.8 per cent from the previous year, due to system trouble at its Kakogawa plant in western Japan, and slower steel demand in emerging countries, Umehara said.
For the year ended March 31, the company reported a 19.6 per cent increase in recurring profit, which is pre-tax before one-off items, to 101.69 billion yen ($853.75 million), but predicted a 6.6 per cent drop for the year to March 2016 on an expected decline in steel product prices in the wake of slumping raw material prices.
Source: ET
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