Japan’s Steel Woes Set to Be Laid Bare as Top Mills Give Updates
- Nippon Steel, JFE to discuss the outlook at quarterly earnings
- Nikko says Nippon Steel remains top pick due to cost cutting
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Japanese steel producers, mired in one of their biggest postwar crises, are likely to reveal their troubles have crept into the new fiscal year when they start reporting earnings this week.
Nippon Steel Corp., the country’s top producer and third-biggest in the world, and JFE Holdings Inc. have been pummeled this year as the coronavirus pandemic hurts already weak Japanese demand and the domestic industry faces intensifying rivalry from other Asian steelmakers. Analysts expect the companies to report losses in the first quarter after both Nippon and JFE posted record annual losses in the year ended March 31 amid multi-billion dollar impairments.