Nippon Steel Corporation is Japan's largest steel manufacturer, producing roughly 35 million metric tons of crude steel in 2010. Nippon Steel employs over 50,000 staff and is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
History:
Steel was first produced from blast furnaces in Japan in 1857. Between 1886 and 1909, domestic industrialization led to a number of steel manufacturers being established, including Kamaishi Works, Yawata Works and Muroran Works.
Through a series of mergers, two companies, Yawata Steel and Fuji Steel, came to prominence over the following decades. These two companies joined in 1970 to form Nippon Steel Corporation.
In February of 2011, Nippon Steel announced plans to merge with Sumitomo Metals Industries to form what would be the world's second largest steel producer (measured by volume of crude steel output 2010).
Products:
Nippon Steel is a major producer of steel plates, sheets, bars and wire rods, shapes, pipes and tubes, steel slag and stainless steel, as well as titanium. The company's products are used in infrastructure projects, including bridges, railways, buildings, power plants, harbours and airports, as well as home electronics and shipbuilding.
Of the 1.4 billion tonnes of crude steel produced worldwide in 2010, Japan contributed roughly 110 million tonnes. Nippon Steel's domestic production accounted for about 30% of Japan's total, or about 32.9 million tons. According to the World Steel Association, Nippon Steel was the world's fourth largest crude steel producer in 2010.
The majority of Nippon Steel's orders come from Japan (about 66% in 2010), while other countries in Asia account for roughly 25%.
Financial Summary (2010):
- Net Sales: ¥4,110 billion
- Net Income: ¥93,199 million
- Total Assets: ¥5,001 billion
Operations:
Nippon Steel operates in six business segments with steelmaking being the largest, accounting for 82% of net sales in 2010. Ranked by net sales the segments are:
- Steelmaking and steel fabrication: The steelmaking segement includes the manufacturing and sale of all steel products. Steel products include flat rolled products, which accounted for 65% of the total steel segment sales in 2010, specialty steels (19% of steel segment sales), steel sections (10%), pipes and tubes (3%), pig iron (<2%), steel ingots (<2%) and secondary steel (1%).
- Engineering and construction: The engineering and construction segment includes the design and manufacture of industrial machinery and steel structures, performance monitoring, waste processing and the supply of utilities like electricity, gas, and heat. This segement accounted for 6% of net sales in 2010.
- Chemicals: Nippon Steel's chemicals segment accounted for 4.5% of net sales in 2010 and includes the production of coal-based chemical products, petrochemicals and electronic materials.
- System solutions: This segment deals with computer systems engineering and consulting services. Nippon Steel Solutions Corporation provides planning, configuration, operation, and maintenance services for IT systems of its customers.
- Urban development: Urban development manages the buying, selling, and renting of real estate. It develops idle properties, condos and office buildings, and reconstructs aging buildings.
- New materials: The new materials segment produces materials for semiconductors and electronic parts, carbon fiber and composite products, and metal processing and joining products.
Head Office:
Japan
6-1, Marunouchi 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-8071, Japan
Telephone: 81-3-6867-4111
http://www.nsc.co.jp
