Nippon Steel goes on offensive as Chinese industry retreats

Japan's top steelmaker stages a big earnings recovery, but is it a mirage?

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal's factory in Oita, on Japan's southern island of Kyushu, resumed operations in August after closing due to a fire in January.

TOMOYA ONISHI and MINAMI INOUE, Nikkei staff writers

January 10, 2018 13:30 JST

TOKYO -- Japan's largest steelmaker, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, is roaring toward 72% pretax profit growth for the fiscal year ending this March, expecting to log 300 billion yen ($2.64 billion). It is churning out most of its steel products at full capacity, and prices of hot-rolled sheet -- widely used in manufacturing -- and other products are rising.