Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel Ltd has issued its financial results for the first nine months December 31 of the financial year 2022-23.
For the given period, Kobe Steel has reported a net profit of JPY 47.5 billion ($362.8 million), decreasing from the net profit of JPY 54 billion recorded in the same period of the previous financial year. The company’s consolidated net sales revenues for the first nine months of the financial year amounted to JPY 1.78 trillion ($13.6 billion), rising by 20.2 percent year on year. The company said that, despite a decline in sales volume, sales increased due to progress in improving selling prices and an increase in the unit selling price of electricity associated with a sharp rise in the market price of thermal coal for electricity.
Kobe Steel produced 4.68 million mt of crude steel in the period in question, down 6.2 percent year on year. Kobe’s steel product sales volume in the given period fell by 6.25 percent year on year to 3.75 million, due to a decline mainly in overseas production of automobiles, a major demand sector, and the impact of inventory adjustments by customers.
For the full financial year 2022-23, Kobe Steel’s crude steel production is expected to be about 6.2 million mt. The company’s sales volume is expected to total about 5 million mt in the given year, lower than the previous forecast due to the continuing shortage of semiconductors, a decline in automobile production mainly overseas due to the resurgence of Covid-19 in China, and inventory adjustments by customers.