Tokyo Steel to Start Test Run for New Plant in November

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing is preparing for inauguration of new plant in Tahara, Aichi. The president Toshikazu Nishimoto said at the interview with Japan Metal Bulletin the new plant already has finishing mill starting hot running in November with slab from Okayama plant. He said the plant, which has steel making shop in March 2010, will increase the operation to annual 1.5 million tonnes of full capacity.

Mr. Nishimoto said the lower ferrous scrap price contributed the favorable results in April-December when the firm posted 49.9 billion yen of recurring profit, which was around 3 times of same period of 2007. He expects the scrap price is around 23,500 yen per tonne in January-March expanding the recurring profit to 55 billion yen for the year to March 2009.

The firm revised the sales volume to 1.1 million tonnes in the second half year to March from estimated 1.35 million tonnes. Mr. Nishimoto said the concrete reinforcing steel bar operation is firm due to stable order receipt while the hot coil operation is around 20-80% of the capacity. He expects the sales volume decreases from 650,000 tonnes in October-December to 450,000 tonnes in January-March. He expects the slower demand in inventory adjustment through the end users could continue for another one year.