Nippon Steel has risen to No. 1 in the world in operating profit per ton of crude steel, achieved through production facility restructuring and stronger pricing power, amid a difficult business environment marked by China's steel oversupply and a global slowdown in steel demand.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 15th, when the earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and operating profit of major global blast furnace steelmakers were divided by their crude steel output, Nippon Steel's profit per ton (excluding U.S. Steel) for January to March this year was approximately 17,000 yen (about 156,000 won), a 44% increase from the same period a year earlier.
Nippon Steel cut fixed costs by reducing its domestic blast furnaces from 15 to 10 by 2025, in preparation for a long-term decline in domestic steel demand and a deteriorating export market. It also raised profitability by expanding the proportion of high-value-added products such as high-tensile steel sheets for automobiles. Nikkei assessed that "Nippon Steel, which recorded the world's No. 1 profit per ton, maintained high profitability in a steel market depressed by China's overproduction."
In long-term contracts with large customers, Nippon Steel changed its transaction structure from 2021 to 2022 to a method of first fixing product prices before delivery. As a result, even if coking coal and iron ore prices surge, the company can quickly reflect them in product prices, making it easier to secure an appropriate level of profit.
The company also strengthened cooperation with automakers from the early stages of vehicle development. In October 2025, it signed a contract with Mazda to jointly develop steel from the material selection stage and to supply, in a single package, the steel sheets to be used in the new sport utility vehicle (SUV) "CX-5."
Among Nippon Steel's major competitors, the earnings improvement of India's JSW Steel stood out. JSW Steel's profit per ton for January to March 2026 was 14,800 yen (about 136,000 won), a 72% increase from a year earlier, ranking second in the world after Nippon Steel. India's steel consumption is rapidly increasing on the back of population growth and economic expansion. According to India's Ministry of Steel, domestic steel consumption in fiscal year 2025 was about 164 million tons, an 8% increase from the previous year.
Baoshan Iron & Steel, China's largest steelmaker, maintained production at one of the world's highest levels even amid weak steel demand caused by a domestic economic slump. By exporting surplus volume overseas, it triggered a decline in international steel prices, and it was heavily affected by the worsening market due to a business structure with a high proportion of general-purpose products. Baoshan's profit per ton was 5,300 yen (about 48,700 won), up just 1% from a year earlier, remaining at about one-third the level of Nippon Steel.
Nippon Steel's future task is improving the profitability of U.S. Steel, the American steelmaker it acquired last year. U.S. Steel's profit per ton for January to March this year recorded a loss of about 2,100 yen (about 19,300 won). Nippon Steel is pursuing management improvements, such as raising plant utilization rates, and aims for an operating profit surplus of 100 billion yen (about 919.7 billion won) in its March 2027 earnings, on a basis excluding inventory valuation gains and losses. The previous year, it recorded a loss of 5.6 billion yen (about 51.5 billion won).
