Nippon Steel has denied news reports that it plans to shut its blast furnace in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan on Friday. The company had earlier announced the idling of two blast furnaces to balance its output given a slowdown in Chinese steel demand.
News agencies reported that Nippon Steel has planned to shut down one more blast furnaces at its Wakayama works, in western Japan. Reports stated that Nippon plans to reduce its production domestically to be in equilibrium with the falling steel demand amid decelerating global economy. Nippon’s efficiency has improved by new blast furnaces that began operations in 2019, claimed media.
Nippon Steel released a statement denying all the news related to the shutdown of its blast furnace at Wakayama Works and said that the company is continuously considering ways to enhance its global competitiveness. The total crude steel production capacity of Wakayama Works is 500,000mt/yr.