Japanese steelmakers JFE Holdings had improved its 2020 full-year earnings outlook by JPY10bn ($94.8mn) from its Q1 forecast, with steel sales volumes growing on demand from the automotive sector. The company now expects a loss of JPY130bn in FY20, ending March 31, 2021.
The company expects JFE expects crude steel production to close the fiscal at 22.5mn mt, down 15.8pc against the 26.7mn mt in FY19. The 12.3mn mt guidance for H2 FY20 is 4.9pc lower than 12.9mn from H2 FY19.
JFE Holdings crude steel output fell by 25.7pc in H1 FY20 to 10.77mn mt against 14.50mn mt in H1 FY19. JFE Steel’s shipments aslo fell to 9.34mn mt over 11.8mn mt in the same comparative period. The average selling price for steel dropped by 8.5pc to JPY73,100/mt in H1 FY20 compared to JPY79,900/mt in the same period a year ago.
In the first half of the fiscal, JFE’s revenue fell by 20.3pc to JPY1.5tn over the prior year period with steel segment business declining by 24pc in the same period. Trading revenues also fell by 19pc in H1 2020
Revenues fell by 20.7pc to JPY748.4bn in Q2 FY20 against JPY943.9bn in the same quarter the prior year. JFE Holdings’ operating profit also declined to JPY67.1bn, compared with JPY18.3bn in Q2 FY19.
($1 = JPY 105.4)