Jiji Press reported that three of the four major steelmakers fell into the red during the April to June first quarter of fiscal 2012 due to massive appraisal losses on their share holdings.

The three are Nippon Steel Corporation, Kobe Steel Limited and Sumitomo Metal Industries Limited. By contrast, JFE Holdings Inc saw its net profit surge to JPY 18.1 billion after its profits plunged to JPY 7.1 billion the previous year on losses related to the March 11th 2011 disaster.

Nippon Steel booked JPY 96.3 billion in securities appraisal losses due mainly to write downs of its holdings of Sumitomo Metal and Kobe Steel shares. Sumitomo Metal and Kobe Steel suffered special losses of JPY 15.5 billion and JPY 14.1 billion, respectively, following falls in the stock market.

Source - Jiji Press

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