Japan's Nippon Steel Q1 profit falls 23%, but raises annual f'cast

Nippon Steel, Japan's top steelmaker, posted a 23 per cent drop in net profit in the first quarter of the 2023/2024 fiscal year, but raised its full-year forecast by 8 per cent on higher-than-expected margins amid falling prices of raw materials, it said on Friday.

The move comes despite sluggish steel demand at home and abroad including China, the world's top steel consumer.

Net profit of the world's No.4 steelmaker in the April-June quarter came to 177 billion yen ($1.24 billion), down from 231 billion yen a year ago, on weak demand and the lack of hefty appraisal gains on its inventories that it had enjoyed a year earlier.

Still, the company lifted its annual profit outlook to 400 billion yen from its May guidance of 370 billion yen, citing falling prices of steel-making ingredients such as coking coal as well as its shift to more profitable high-end products.

The latest prediction beat the mean 392 billion yen profit estimate in a poll of 11 analysts by Refinitiv.