Nippon Steel announces the temporary suspension of one blast furnace in Chiba. Demand declined with new corona 13:17 on April 21.
Nippon Steel has officially announced that it will temporarily suspend one blast furnace at its main steelworks in Chiba Prefecture. While major construction companies decided to suspend construction one after another due to the spread of new coronavirus infection, we decided that further reduction of production capacity was necessary.
Nippon Steel has already decided to suspend one blast furnace at each of the steel works in Wakayama and Ibaraki prefectures to respond to the decrease in steel demand for automobiles.
After that, major construction companies decided to cancel construction one after another, and it was judged that a decrease in demand for steel products for construction could not be avoided, and a new blast furnace at the mainstay Kimitsu Works in Chiba Prefecture will be released next month. We decided to stop it temporarily from mid-season.
A series of blast furnace suspensions will reduce production capacity by 20%, resulting in a significant reduction in production since the Lehman Shock.
Nippon Steel has already introduced a "temporary leave" to temporarily suspend work from this month for approximately 30,000 people, which is 30% of the employees of the entire group. The policy is to maintain the employment of employees.
In the steel industry, JFE Steel has also decided to suspend the operation of two blast furnaces, but if there is a long-term decline in steel demand, it may be necessary to take further steps.