Japan’s Steel Mills Eye Relief as Yen Surge Set to Cut Costs
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The jump in the yen after the Bank of Japan’s surprise policy shift this week will provide relief for the country’s steel industry as the move is poised to curb costs of imported raw materials like iron ore and coking coal.
“It’s good that the extreme depreciation of the yen is being corrected,” Eiji Hashimoto, president of Japan’s biggest producer, Nippon Steel Corp., said at a briefing in Tokyo on Thursday. The historic slump in the yen this year was a blow to Japan, which he said was the most dependent among developed countries on foreign purchases of energy, mineral resources and food.