Nov. 10, 2020 - According to the financial result released by Shinagawa Refractories on November 5, Shinagawa’s revenue for the first half of fiscal year 20-21 (i.e. April 1, 2020-September 30, 2020) was 47.127 billion yen, a year-on-year decrease of 19.7% (revenue for the same period of fiscal year 19-20 were 58.707 billion yen).

Affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, Japan’s economy has not yet recovered, but the production activities, exports and personal consumption in Japan have rebounded. Japan’s crude steel output in the first half of fiscal year 20-21 was 31.7 million tonnes, a decrease of 26.8% from the same period last year.

The decline in Japan's crude steel production has led to a decline in the sales of Shinagawa’s refractories. In addition, Shinagawa's operating profit for the first half of fiscal year 20-21 was 2.641 billion yen, a decrease of 44.8% from the same period of the previous fiscal year (operating profit for the same period of fiscal year 19-20 was 4.783 billion yen).

Financial highlights

For the refractories and related products sector, Shinagawa’s sales of refractories decreased to 36.448 billion yen, a decrease of 20.2% compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year, due to the decrease in crude steel production in the first half of fiscal year 20-21. Resulting from the decrease in sales, its operating profit was only 2.485 billion yen, a decrease of 43.8% from the same period last fiscal year.

For the project sector, due to the reduction of steel plant projects in the first half of fiscal year 20-21, its sales decreased by 18.7% from the same period last year to 9.765 billion yen; its operating profit also reduced by 8.7% from the same period of the previous fiscal year due to the reduction of steel plant projects, to 418 million yen.

For the other sectors, its sales in the first half of 2020 were 913 million yen, a decrease of 11.4% over the same period of the previous fiscal year; its operating profit was 450 million yen, a decrease of 19.0% over the same period of the previous fiscal year.