Nippon Steel Posts Loss

Japan’s biggest steelmaker Nippon Steel said it suffered a $16 million loss for the nine months to December and downgraded its full-year forecast to break-even, Industry Week reported.

The company will become the world’s second-largest steel firm in October, when a merger with smaller rival Sumitomo Metal Industries goes into effect, generating savings in the face of increasingly intense global competition.

“The company recorded a special loss due mainly to the stagnant stock market conditions and a consequent loss on the valuation of investments in securities, including investments in domestic listed stocks,” the firm said in a statement. “The Japanese economy rebounded from the temporary setback caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. But business conditions continued to be unstable due to the slowdown in economic growth overseas and other factors, including the persisting historic high levels of the yen.