According to foreign media reports, due to system failure,Japan’s leading steel company, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Co., Ltd.’sproduction and profits fell in 2017-2018. The company plans to producequarterly average crude steel output in fiscal year 2019-2020(2019.04.01-2020.03.31). Increased to about 11 million tons. In the fiscal year2018-19 (2018.04.01-2019.03.31), the company estimated that the average annualoutput of crude steel was 10.3 million tons.

At the beginning of the month, the world's third-largeststeel producer of crude steel said that due to the decline in crude steelproduction, the annual profit for the 2018-19 fiscal year will be 6% lower thanpreviously forecast.

Japan is busy building projects related to the 2020 TokyoOlympics, and the domestic automotive industry and construction industry havestrong demand for steel. However, due to natural disasters and system failures,steel mills were unable to achieve the planned production. In addition, ironore prices have risen after the recent tailings accident in Brazil. The ironore purchased by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo from Brazil accounts for about 30%of the total demand, but the accident did not affect its purchase volume.