Japan Special Steel Makers Revise Up Recurring Profit Forecasts

　　　　Japanese 4 major special steel makers revised up forecasts of consolidated profit for a full business year ending in March 2011. The makers’ first six month consolidated profits were higher than the original forecasts thanks to the steady demand mainly from automobiles. Aichi Steel and Nippon Koshuha Steel set their annual profit forecasts unchanged but their first six month profits were also higher than the initial forecast. In the second half of fiscal 2010, the 6 makers forecast their profits slightly decreases from the first half year when completed car production is expected to decrease and higher yen rate impacts Japanese exporting industry. The makers cautiously watch the market conditions.　　　　Daido Steel’s special steel production increased by 69% to 610,000 tonnes in the first half of fiscal 2010 from the corresponding period of fiscal 2009, which recovered to 90% of the peak level before Lehman’s fall. Mitsubishi Steel’s crude steel output jumped by 5 times to 210,000 tonnes in the first half year from the same period of fiscal 2009. Nippon Koshuha’s output increased by 1.6 times to 47,500 tonnes.　　　　Daido Steel posted record high net profit in the half-year ended in September and revised up the full-year recurring profit forecast by 8 billion yen from the previous estimation. Hitachi Metals raised the full-year recurring profit forecast by 1.7 billion yen to 29.7 billion yen. Sanyo Special Steel also increased the forecast of the recurring profit by 1.2 billion yen to 12.9 billion yen.