Japan's largest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp posted its first loss in three quarters and cut its full year profit target to zero after it curbed Asian exports and wrote off the value of stockholdings.

Nippon Steel had a loss of JPY 50 billion in the three months ended December 31st 2011 as, compared with a profit of JPY 33.4 billion a year earlier.

It has also cut its forecast for the full year from an October 26 estimate of JPY 85 billion.

The steelmaker also reduced its production forecast by 5.5% to 14.64 million tonnes for the six months to March 31.