Factories located near Japan quake-hit region

Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:49am GMT

March 11 (Reuters) - Following is a partial list of companies with factories and offices located in northeast Japan in the areas worst hit by Japan's earthquake and tsunamis, as well as affected operations in other regions.

Cosmo Oil Co
- Major fire at oil refinery in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. All operations halted. Work to put out fire going on since 0658 GMT.

Toyota Motor Corp
- Subsidiary Central Motor Co: Miyagi prefecture, near Sendai. Started production in January 2011, builds Yaris subcompact sedan. Capacity: 120,000 units a year.

- Subsidiary Kanto Auto Works: Iwate prefecture. Builds smaller cars such as Belta sedan, Auris, Blade, ist.

- Joint venture with Panasonic Corp , Prime Earth EV Energy, in Miyagi prefecture. Makes batteries for hybrid cars. Production suspended.

- Toyota Motor Tohoku car parts factory. Operations started in Oct 1998. Production stopped, no injuries.

Nissan Motor Co
- Production halted at all four car assembly factories in Japan, including those in severely hit Tochigi and Fukushima prefectures. Small fires confirmed at those two factories. Two suffered minor injuries at Tochigi factory.

Honda Motor Co
- Tochigi factory, makes engine parts, transmissions. Established in December 1970. National broadcaster NHK reports one woman dead after damage to building.

- Also has major R&D centres in Tochigi. 42-year-old male employee dies at Honda R&D Centre.

- Company yet to confirm the situation.

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd
- Maker of Subaru cars and aircraft. Has aircraft factory and industrial vehicles factory in Tochigi prefecture. Company could not be immediately reached for comments.

Sony Corp
- Two factories in Fukushima, four in Miyagi. All are closed and employees evacuated. Extent of damage not yet known. One Miyagi factory makes semiconductors, the other three make optical film and various other parts. The two Fukushima factories make batteries.

JFE Steel
- Broadcaster TBS reports fire at its Chiba prefecture steel plant. Company says no big damage to the plant.

Panasonic Corp
- Two factories in Fukushima, producing audio products and digital cameras, one in Miyagi prefecture (Sendai) producing camera lenses.

Tokyo Gas Co
- Stopped gas supply to more than 35,000 households and facilities in Kanto area in eastern Japan.

Tohoku Electric Power Co
- Facilities operating as usual.

Tokyo Electric Power Co
- Power plant operating as usual.

JSR (synthetic rubber maker)
- Kashima factory, in Ibaraki prefecture, stopped production but no damage to facilities.

Citigroup Holdings Japan
- No damage to trading facilities, operating normally after quake. All staff in central Tokyo safe. Company will send staff home early. No confirmation of safety of all staff in retail branch offices outside Tokyo. Has no office in Sendai. (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, Isabel Reynolds and Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Anshuman Daga,sourced:Thomson REuters)

JFE to up steel sheet price by Y20,000 from April

Thu Feb 24, 2011 5:56am GMT

TOKYO Feb 24 (Reuters) - Japan's JFE Steel Corp (5411.T: Quote) said on Thursday it will raise prices of steel sheet for sale through distributors by 20,000 yen ($242) per tonne from April, signalling to high-volume contract users such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote) the level of price hike it seeks.

Input costs for steelmaking are expected to rise sharply in the April-June quarter as demand in Asia remains strong and unresolved logistical bottlenecks due to disruptions in Australia boost coal prices, though steel product prices have yet to fully reflect higher costs.

But prospects of price talks between steelmakers such as JFE and Nippon Steel Corp (5401.T: Quote) and high-volume users who buy via contracts, including Toyota, have becoming uncertain, given BHP Billiton's (BHP.AX: Quote) BLT.l demand to shift coal pricing to a monthly basis instead of quarterly as it is now.

JFE Steel President Eiji Hayashida called BHP's proposal unacceptable on Wednesday, saying it would make costs hard to predict and complicate steel users' production plans. [ID:nTOE71M03V]

Japanese steelmakers and carmakers usually set contract prices for steel sheet for the six months to September after costs of iron ore and coal are set.

The cost of iron ore in April-June is expected to jump as much as 25 percent from the preceding quarter to a record high.

JFE, the world's No.5 steelmaker, does not disclose contract prices with large-lot users, but has said it expects its steel product prices including exports to average 79,000 yen per tonne for the current year to March 31. ($1=82.54 Yen) (Reporting by Yuko Inoue; Editing by Michael Watson, sourced: Thomson Reuters)

Nippon, Sumitomo Metal merging to create No.2 steelmaker

Thu Feb 3, 2011 10:35am GMT

* Merged company would trail only ArcelorMittal in global steel output
* Nippon Steel, Sumitomo Metal aim to merge in Oct 2012
* Japan steelmakers face stiff competition from Asian rivals
* Merged company would have unmatched product lineup - analysts
By Junko Fujita

TOKYO, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Japan's Nippon Steel Corp and Sumitomo Metal Industries plan to merge to create the world's second-largest steelmaker in an effort to fend off tough competition from Asian rivals and offset shrinking demand from domestic automakers.
The deal, which would likely see Japan's top steelmaker Nippon Steel acquiring Sumitomo Metal, comes as the industry grapples with surging raw materials prices, exacerbated recently by floods in Australia.

Japanese steelmakers have been particularly hard hit as domestic automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co build fewer cars at home and expand in emerging markets such as India using products from local steelmakers.
They also face cut-throat competition from South Korea's POSCO and Baoshan Iron & Steel Co , China's biggest listed steelmaker, as Japanese automakers seek lower prices to weather an unfavorably strong yen.

Analysts, as well as Japanese government officials and politicians, welcomed the plans for the merger, which is subject to approval from Japan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC).
"The new group has a chance to become very competitive in Asia," said CLSA analyst Jeremie Capron, adding there was room for Sumitomo Metal to cut costs with the help of Nippon Steel.
"The merged company will have the best product line-up in the industry ranging from construction steel, auto steel sheets, thick plates to seamless pipes. That's quite unique, and the No.1 company, ArcelorMittal , does not have such a product line-up."
Nippon Steel, whose main customers include Japanese automakers, and Sumitomo Metal Industries, which is strong in seamless pipes used in the energy, construction and machinery sectors, said they aimed to merge in October 2012.
Nippon Steel and Japan's No.2 JFE Holdings last week cuts their outlooks for the year to March, citing rising costs of coking coal and iron ore.

"INDUSTRY GOLIATHS"
Nippon Steel executives had said the company was looking to deepen cooperation with Sumitomo Metal and Kobe Steel Ltd , with which it has some operational partnerships, but had cited objection from the FTC for its inability to do so.
The merged company would rank No.2 in the world, with a combined crude steel output of 47.8 million tonnes last year, Sumitomo Metal Industries President Hiroshi Tomono said at a news conference in Tokyo. It will employ more than 75,000 people.

That would still be about half the production of top-ranked ArcelorMittal but place the group ahead of Baosteel. Based on 2009 crude steel production, Nippon Steel ranked fourth in the world and Sumitomo Metal placed 19th, according to the World Steel Association.
"These are two industry goliaths. The merger of these two titans of industry looks designed to exceed anything the Chinese can do," said John Meyer, a London-based analyst at investment bank Fairfax.

"The integration...combines the production and technical skills of both companies to produce better-quality products more efficiently and more effectively. Other steel producers will struggle to compete with the new efficiencies of scale and services being offered by the joining of these titans," he added.
Nippon Steel, with a market capitalisation $24 billion, and Sumitomo Metal, valued at $11 billion, already hold minority stakes in each other.
They have not yet decided the merger ratio.
Nippon Steel President Shoji Muneoka told a news conference that he expected the FTC to approve the merger, given that the two firms have different product strengths.
Muneoka also said the relationship with Kobe Steel, in which Nippon Steel holds a stake of 3.4 percent, would be maintained.

Rival JFE said it supported the merger and Japanese Trade Minister Banri Kaieda said it had his blessing.
"The merger aims to strengthen global competitiveness through reorganisations of operations as global competition heats up in the steel industry," he said.
"I value such a move highly because it is line with our 'new growth strategy' aimed at realising a strong economy."
JFE unit JFE Steel was the last major merger in the Japanese steel industry, when Kawasaki Steel and NKK combined in 2002 to form what is now the world's fifth biggest steelmaker. (Additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, Yuko Inoue, Chikako Mogi, Nathan Layne in TOKYO, Nick Trevethan in SINGAPORE, Ploy Ten Kate in BANGKOK; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Lincoln Feast)

Nippon, Toyota may OK 1 pct steel price hike - Nikkei

Jan 22, 2011 (Reuters) - The world's fourth-biggest steelmaker, Nippon Steel Corp (5401.T: Quote), and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote) are likely to agree on an around 1 percent increase in steel prices for the second half of fiscal 2010, the Nikkei reported, citing sources close to the negotiations.
The figure is much smaller than the roughly 25 percent jump for the first half of the year, the business daily said.
After falling earlier in the October-March period, iron ore and coking coal prices are on the rise again and steelmakers have thus sought to pass the higher costs to carmakers and other major customers, the paper said.
Faced with deteriorating margins on vehicle exports, Toyota demanded a price cut, arguing that steelmakers costs for importing raw materials are declining due to a stronger yen, the Nikkei said. (Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed in Bangalore)