Nippon Steel to Shut Down Blast Furnace in Western Japan

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Leading steelmaker Nippon Steel announced that it has decided to shutdown another Japanese blast furnace. This is the fourth blast furnace shutdown by the company in a row. The move is part of company’s strategic plan to realign plants so as to reduce cost of operation.

According to the company, it intends to shut down one of the two blast furnaces at its Wakayama Prefecture works in western Japan over the next few years. The closure will lower crude steel output capacity in Japan by almost 5%. It must be noted that the Wakayama complex has been the primary steel production centre of former Sumitomo Metal Industries.

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Earlier, Nippon Steel had decided to close one of two blast furnaces in Fukuoka Prefecture in March 2021. Earlier this year, it had decided to halt both blast furnaces at its plant in Kure, in Western Japan’s Hiroshima Prefecture. The idling of all these three furnaces along with the fourth one announced now is expected to lead to a combined capacity reduction of approximately 15%.

The increased steel production in China, flooding of steel products into local Japanese market and the tough competition from other market players including South Korean Posco are cited as the main reasons for repeated shutdown of furnaces by the company.