Japan 6 Special Steel Makers Gain High Sales for 1H

Japanese 6 special steel makers posted higher net sales in the first 6 months of fiscal 2007 ended September compared to the same period of previous year when special steel demand maintained favorable such for automobiles. Hitachi Metals, Daido Steel, Sanyo Special Steel, Mitsubishi Steel Mfg and Nippon Koshuha Steel posted the record sales for the mid-term. Hitachi Metals, Aichi Steel and Nippon Koshuha Steel gained higher recurring profits for 1H compared with 1H of F2006 while Daido Steel, Sanyo Special Steel and Mitsubishi Steel posted less recurring profits due to cost expansion for ferrous scrap.The 6 special steels expect record sales through a full year of F2007 compared to F2006 ending March. The all makers expect higher recurring profits as well other than Sanyo Special Steel.Their sales increased thanks to the demand for automobile or information technology industry and increased selling price. Nippon Koshuha Steel increased the sales by 20.8% in the mid-term settlement over the same period of last year. Other makers increased the sales by 6-20%.Their selling price hike contributed increased the profit. The price hike pushed up the recurring profit by 31.8 billion yen in the mid-term settlement of Daido compared with the sale period of last year, by 11.4 billion yen in the mid-term settlement of Sanyo, and by 10.4 billion yen in the mid-term settlement of Aichi. Meanwhile, the increased material price pressed their profit, which reduced by 36.3 billion yen for Daido’s recurring profit, by 13.6 billion yen for Sanyo’s profit, and by 12.4 billion yen for Aichi’s profit. This result suggested Daido and Sanyo decreased the recurring profit in the mid-term settlement compared with the same period of last year.The 6 makers expect higher sales volume and lower productive costs despite of increased material price for 2H of F2007. Nippon Koshuha Steel expects the recurring profit would increases by 68.6% through F2007 from F2006. Daido expects the recurring profit increases by 15.1%.