Japan's Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal said on Tuesday its six-month profit fell nearly 91 percent from a year earlier due to slumping demand at home and in China. The company said domestic steel demand was hit by a slow recovery in sales to the construction and auto sectors, while its business was also hit hard by earthquakes in southern Japan's Kumamoto region in April.
For the six months to September, the Tokyo-based company reported net profit of 11.0 billion yen ($105 million), down 90.8 percent from the same period last year.
Operating profit dropped 81.9 percent to 17.8 billion yen on sales of 2.16 trillion yen, which were 13.8 percent lower.
Annual profit for the fiscal year was likely to fall almost 60 percent, it said, citing an improvement in demand for steel in automobile and construction use in the second half.
For the year to March, the company said it expects net profit of 60 billion yen, down 58.7 percent from the previous year, on expected sales of 4.55 trillion yen, 7.3 percent lower.