TOKYO -- Nippon Steel plans to shut down another blast furnace beyond the three already slated to close, its latest effort to cut overcapacity in Japan caused in part by growing output in China, Nikkei has learned.
The world's third-largest steelmaker by output intends to halt one of the two blast furnaces at its Wakayama Prefecture works in western Japan within a few years. This would reduce the Nippon Steel group's domestic crude steel output capacity by about 5% from 54 million tons.
