(6 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kashima, Japan – 06 December 2024
1. Various of steel slab on hot rolling mill at Nippon Steel’s Kashima plant
2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Masato Suzuki, company official:
“We can’t expect demand in Japan to grow as the population is declining. Therefore, we are taking various structural measures to strengthen our production facilities, and we are investing in products that will grow in the future to improve our product mix.”
3. Various of steel slab on hot rolling mill at Nippon Steel’s Kashima plant
4. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Masato Suzuki, company official:
“We are thinking of expanding our technology to U.S. Steel, making U.S. Steel stronger and contributing to the U.S. manufacturing industry. We will be discussing how exactly we will deploy our technology.”
5. Various of exterior of Blast Furnace No. 1 at Nippon Steel’s Kashima Plant
6. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Masato Suzuki, company official:
++COMMENTING ON CHINA’S OVERPRODUCTION OF STEEL++
“The company as a whole has been affected. Two things: Chinese steel is being exported out of China, mainly to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and our home market, due to overproduction. This has affected the steel market there, and since we do business in these areas, we have been affected.”
7. Various of workers and photographers outside the plant
8. Sign reading (English and Japanese) ‘Welcome to Nippon Steel’
8. SOUNDBITE (Japanese), Masato Suzuki, company official:
"Imports of minerals to Japan, including from China, are currently increasing so we are closely monitoring this trend with a great sense of urgency and concern."
8. Nippon Steel representative holding Q&A session for journalists during Kashima plant tour
9. Entrance of Education Centre at Nippon Steel’s Kashima plant with company logo
STORYLINE:
The signs at Nippon Steel read: “The world through steel,” underlining why Japan’s top steelmaker is pursuing its $15 billion bid to acquire U.S. Steel.
“We can’t expect demand in Japan to grow as the population is declining. We need to invest in production that leads to growth,” a company official, Masato Suzuki, said Friday while giving reporters a look at a Nippon Steel plant in Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo.
Nippon Steel Corp. has its eyes on India, Southeast Asia and the U.S., Suzuki said. About 70% of the plant’s output is exported.
The Tokyo-based company remains optimistic, although the deal is opposed by President-elect Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and American steelworkers.
During the tour, slabs of steel, glowing white hot at more than 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 Fahrenheit), rolled through the cavernous plant to become giant spools of super-thin steel.
Nippon Steel officials didn’t disclose details of the high technology they said the planned acquisition would offer U.S. Steel.
Under the proposed deal, first announced in 2023, U.S. Steel would keep its name and its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, becoming a subsidiary of Nippon Steel.
Nippon Steel already has manufacturing operations in the U.S. and Mexico, China and Southeast Asia. It supplies the world’s top automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp., and makes steel for railways, pipes, appliances and skyscrapers.
The American steel industry has waned as Chinese steelmakers have grown to dominate the market.
Japan wants to leverage the decades-old U.S.-Japan security and political alliance to seal the acquisition, but the outlook is uncertain.
When asked for comment, it referred to a recent letter to its members.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d927fc8a319544f08340a86e33f72933
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in December 11, 2024, 3:05 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
