May 26, 2021 - According to the financial result released by Shinagawa Refractories on May 13, Shinagawa’s revenue for the fiscal year 20-21 (i.e. April 1, 2020 - March 31, 2021) was 99.969 billion yen, a year-on-year decrease of 16.0% compared with the previous fiscal year.

Since the end of the last fiscal year, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a normal situation during this fiscal year. Due to the wide spread of the pandemic, the prospects of the refractories industry are also full of uncertainties. Refractories are mainly used in the iron and steel industry. The demand for steel in the downstream industries (mainly the automotive industry) has gradually recovered since the second half of the fiscal year, but the overall demand has not fully recovered from the decline in the first half of the fiscal year. Japan’s crude steel output fell to 82.79 million tons in the fiscal year 20-21, a decrease of 15.9% compared with the previous fiscal 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 fiscal year 20-21 was 7.285 billion yen, a decrease of 24.1% from the previous fiscal year (operating profit for the fiscal year 19-20 was 9.597 billion yen).

Financial highlights

For the refractories and related products sector, Shinagawa’s sales of refractories decreased to 76.648 billion yen, a decrease of 13.281 billion yen (14.8%) compared with the previous fiscal year, due to the decrease in crude steel production in the fiscal year 20-21.

For the project sector, due to the reduction of steel plant projects in the fiscal year 20-21, its sales decreased by 20.6% from the previous fiscal year to 21.55 billion yen;

For the other sectors, its sales in the fiscal year 20-21 were 1.814 billion yen, a decrease of 7.8% over the previous fiscal year.