Nippon Steel braces for 36% fall in FY20 seamless sales

Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, expects to sell only about 620,000 tonnes of carbon and special steel seamless pipes during the current fiscal (April 2020-March 2021), down 36.1% on year, as the COVID-19 pandemic has brought oil and gas development projects in many countries to a halt.

During the fiscal’s first half year (April-September), Nippon Steel sold a total of 340,000 tonnes of seamless pipes and plans to sell another 290,000 tonnes during this half to end-March next year. If the projection of 620,000 tonnes is realised, this year will be the company’s worst for seamless sales in eight years,a