Tyohoon Faxai that have hit Japan recently has made the country’s steel major, Nippon Steel to temporarily shut down its operations at its Tokyo based Kimitsu plant.
As per the reports, The BOF was shut down after a chimney was toppled over by Typhoon Faxai that swept through Tokyo over the weekend.
The company had also shut down its three blast furnaces in Kimitsu during the typhoon but these are now operating normally. However, Nippon Steel did not give estimates for production loss because of the BOF closure or a timeline for restarting the BOF at Kimitsu.
Nippon Steel cuts its capex
Amid the weaker steel demand due to escalating trade war between U.S. and China, Nippon Steel has announced to cut its planned capital expenditures for the three-year period to March 2021 by 10% to 20%.
With a planned capital expenditure budget of 1.7 trillion yen (USD 16 billion) during the period, the company could cut between 170 billion to 340 billion yen (USD 1.6 billion to USD 3.2 billion) in spending.
Slowing global steel demand for automobiles and machinery because of the trade row and higher materials costs have battered Japanese steelmakers’ quarterly earnings, forcing them to cut their annual forecasts or give bleak guidance.
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