JFE Holdings Inc, the second largest steel producer in Japan, said Friday it would cut steel production by 13%, closing the blast furnace and other facilities East of the Japanese plant in Kawasaki in March 2024 due to the weakening demand from producers affected by the trade war between the US and China.
"We are faced with unprecedented and extremely challenging operating environment due to declining demand for steel from the manufacturing industry affected by the trade war between the US and China, and rising prices for raw materials due to rising steel production in China," - said the President of JFE Steel Yoshihisa Kitano.
the Company reduced its annual earnings forecast, predicting a net loss of 190 billion yen (approximately $ 1.75 million), compared with its previous estimate of net profit of 13 billion yen.
Japanese manufacturers were also faced with a drop in domestic demand because of population decline.
last year, the crude steel production in Japan, the third largest manufacturer in the world, fell by 4.8% to 99,28 million tons compared with a year earlier, for the first time in 10 years, dropping below 100 million tons.
In February, Nippon Steel presented a plan the closure of almost 10% of its production capacity, which is an unprecedented step in the once dominant Japanese steel industry, which has suffered from falling demand in the domestic market and competition from China.
