Nippon Steel Trading to Increase Export and Overseas Trade to 5MT/Y

Nippon Steel Trading, Nippon Steel Group’s trading company, plans to increase export and overseas trade volume of steel products by about 50% to 5 million tonnes per year from current 3.6 million tonnes along its next medium-term management plan for fiscal 2012-2014 ending in March 2015. The firm projects expansion of overseas processing and sales bases as well as establishment of a new processing and distributing complex site in China, a processing center in Indonesia and a coil center in India. The firm aims to increase export and local material supply to non-Japanese customers and to deepen the presentation in each market.

Nippon Steel Trading set up project teams in March 2011 to start business researches for China, India, Indonesia and Thailand. Each team has analyzed each country’s steel market along local strategies. The firm currently issued an interim report on each research, along which the firm reviews feasible projects and studies the details.

Moreover, the firm enhances partnership with overseas bases and promotes training of overseas staffs especially in energy, automobile and infrastructure engineering fields mainly in Asia. The firm is also trying to cultivate new business partners globally.

As for the domestic business, Nippon Steel Trading re-strengthens relationship with business partners since domestic steel demand is unlikely to grow largely due to decrease of public works and outflow trend of manufacturing industry. The firm plans to increase export and overseas trade volume to over 5 million tonnes per year early, which would account for a half in the company’s total trade target at 10 million tonnes.