Nippon Steel Corp., Asia's largest steelmaker, will more than double planned output cuts as the global recession cools demand, President Shoji Muneoka said Friday.
The company will cut production by more than 4 million metric tons for the six months ending March 31, compared with its November estimate of about 2 million to 2.2 million tons, Muneoka said at a meeting of the Japan Iron & Steel Federation, which he chairs.
Japan's crude-steel production fell 28 percent to 7.48 million metric tons in December, the steepest decline in six decades, as the global recession slashed demand, the federation said on Wednesday.
JFE Holdings Inc., Asia's second-largest steelmaker, is deepening production cuts to 4 million tons for the second half, 26 percent below first-half output, according to a Dec. 25 statement from the company. It's halting operations of a blast furnace in western Japan for maintenance.