Nippon Steel to Improve Technology Advantage

Nippon Steel started the new 3-year growth plan from April to March 2009 to improve the technology advantage and production ability. The firm tries to keep top technical position in the world steel industry. The vice president Kazuo Nagahiro said the firm sets the technology as main theme for the business plan for the first time. He said the firm has advantage in integrated production technology of middle and high grade steel products compared with low cost steel makers in China and Brazil and tries to keep and expand the advantage for sustainable profit growth. Mr. Nagahiro said the firm seeks win-win relations with the users through products development for higher value and stable supply and delivery system improvement. The firm tries to improve the facility and to cultivate the human resources. Mr. Nagahiro said the firm has high level cost competitiveness in middle and high grade steel products. He, however, recognizes the firm has challenge in raw materials and cost, competitive in commodity grade products and competition in tin plate and tin free steel with other materials including paper, polyethylene terephthalate bottle and aluminium. He said the firm tries to increase the non- and semi-coking coal rate for the coal consumption from averaged more than 30% to more than 40% to reduce cost while the firm increases the pulverized coal injection from current 130 kilogram per tonne of pig iron to more than 150 kg. The firm also builds new coke oven at Oita works commissioning by March 2008 and improves the efficiency for production of high grade products by utilizing the additional capacity. Mr. Nagahiro said the firm, which operates at 85% of pig iron rate for a tonne of raw steels, has flexibility for market condition. The firm can increase the output by increasing ferrous scrap input and can reduce the output by increasing the pig iron rate. He said the firm keeps expanding the blast furnaces one after another. The firm plans to reline no.1 blast furnace at Nagoya works in early 2007 and expand the furnace capacity from 4,650 cubic meters to 5,400 cubic meters. He said the firm will reline no.1 blast furnace at Oita and expand the capacity from current 4,884 cubic meters of capacity in 2 years. The firm will also reline no.2 blast furnace with 3,273 cubic meters capacity at Kimitsu 3 years or more from now.