Japan's JFE lifts typhoon loss estimate

The typhoon made landfall in eastern Japan on September 21 and had prompted Nippon Steel to temporarily suspend all upstream and downstream operations at its Kimitsu works in Chiba, as Mysteel Global had reported. But as JFE Steel was still cleaning up the Chiba area of its East Japan Works after torrential rains and flooding in mid-August, the typhoon's arrival resulted in further inundation.

At the time, JFE management had said on September 25 that lost steel output was estimated at about 600,000 tonnes, equivalent to roughly two months' supply, but last Friday when reporting its July-September results, JFE had revised its overall crude steel production forecast lower to about 20.8 million tonnes, some 700,000 tonnes below its initial forecast for the fiscal.

Prior to Dujuan's descent, staff at the Chiba works were trying to quickly restore operations on the No.6 blast furnace at China – a 5,153 cubic meter unit and the only furnace still in operation in Chiba – after the August rains. The unit had only been restarted on January 13 this year after a relining and overhaul begun last September, as reported.

At Friday's earnings announcement, Toshihiro Tanaka, vice president of JFE Steel's parent company, JFE Holdings, said that restoration work on major facilities, including the blast furnace, had largely been completed but that overall operations, including those of other facilities, were still in the process of ramping up toward full capacity.

"We do not expect further crude steel production cuts, but we will continue to adjust delivery for the time being," Tanaka said. "It will also take a little more time to normalize deliveries," Tekko Shimbun quotes him as saying. The financial impact is estimated at Yen 25 billion for the loss of production and Yen 25 billion for the higher costs the steelmaker has incurred.

Written by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com