Nippon Steel forecasts 43 % profit drop for FY 2026 

Trump's tariffs are "expected to have a tremendous impact on the domestic and overseas steel industries, including indirect effects," Nippon Steel President Tadashi Imai said at a press conference.

Imai expressed concern, in particular, about a decline in steel demand as a result of a fall in auto shipments, saying that the US tariffs' indirect impact through a fall in auto exports could be greater than the direct impact on steel exports.

For the year to March 2026, Nippon Steel did not release a sales estimate, citing the difficulty of calculating the tariffs' impact.

Meanwhile, the company forecast its annual operating profit to slump 41.5 % to 400 billion yen, with the tariffs seen pushing down its operating profit by tens of billions of yen.

For fiscal 2024, which ended this March, Nippon Steel posted an operating profit of 683.2 billion yen, down 21.4 %, and a net profit of 350.2 billion yen, down 36.2 %, on sales of 8,695.5 billion yen, down 1.9 %.

The lower results reflected losses caused by the suspension of a facility at its East Nippon Works, Kashima Area, as well as continued sluggish steel demand.

Regarding Nippon Steel's plan to acquire United States Steel Corp., Imai said his company basically aims to make the U.S. company a wholly owned subsidiary, but it will depend on negotiations with the U.S. government and Trump.

"We are making various proposals to figure out what would be acceptable (to the US government)," he said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]