The world's second biggest steelmaker Japan-based Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. (NSSMC) has announced its financial results for the third quarter ended December 31 of the financial year 2017-18, posting a net profit of JPY 156.05 billion ($1.42 billion), rising from the net profit of JPY 59.41 billion recorded in the same quarter of the previous financial year. In the given quarter, the company's net sales amounted to JPY 4.16 trillion ($37.96 billion), up 25 percent year on year.
During the third quarter, NSSMC's steelmaking and steel fabrication segment recorded net sales of JPY 3.69 trillion ($33.73 billion), increasing by 26.4 percent year on year. NSSMC stated that in the steelmaking and steel fabrication segment, domestic demand was firm, especially in the case of shipments to the automotive and industrial machinery sectors.
Meanwhile, in the third quarter of the 2017-18 financial year, NSSMC produced 11.68 million mt of crude steel, up 1.4 percent, while the company's steel product shipments amounted to 9.39 million mt, falling by 8.7 percent, both year on year.