Nippon Steel suspends blast furnace operation due to a decrease of steel demand

April 9, 2020

NIPPON STEEL announced on April 7, 2020 that it would suspend one blast furnaces at the East Nippon Works’ Kashima area and one at the Kansai Works’ Wakayama area to respond to immediate sharp drop in demand for steel products. The blast furnace will be shut down after late April 2020. Each employee working at each business site in Japan will have two temporary off-days per month from April. Many people concerned considered the reason of this suspension by the spread of coronavirus.