Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel Ltd (Kobe) has issued its financial results for the first quarter ended June 30 of the fiscal year 2014-15.
For the given period, Kobe Steel has reported a net profit of JPY 22.9 billion ($222.3 million), compared to a net profit of JPY 18.7 billion in the same quarter of the previous financial year. The company's consolidated net sales revenues for the June quarter this year amounted to JPY 444.8 billion ($4.3 billion), up 6.3 percent year on year.
Kobe Steel produced 1.77 million mt of crude steel in the period in question, down 5.8 percent year on year. Kobe's steel product sales volume in the given period decreased by 5.88 percent to 1.44 million mt, compared to the first quarter of the financial year 2012-13.
According to Kobe Steel, as a reaction to the last-minute surge in demand prior to the rise in the consumption tax, demand for steel products declined in the automotive sector and the impact of production trouble at Kakogawa Works resulted in a decrease in the sales volume of steel products compared with the same period last year. On the other hand, sales prices increased in the first quarter compared with the same period last year. Excluding a portion which remained undecided, steel prices remained at similar high levels as at the end of the previous financial year.
Kobe Steel forecasts a downward revision in consolidated sales in the first half of the financial year 2014-15 and for the full financial year due to certain assumptions on the prices of steel products and other uncertain factors in light of the downward trend in steel raw material prices.
