<p>Japan's top steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp is seeking overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&As) but not for further M&A deals at home, its president, Eiji Hashimoto, said on Tuesday.</p>.<p>"We are not considering to proceed with any further M&As in Japan, but we want to seek M&As overseas," Hashimoto told a news conference, the key growth markets for Nippon Steel being India, the United States and ASEAN countries.</p>.<p>The world's third-biggest steelmaker wants to boost its group-wide crude steel output to 100 million tonnes from about 65 million tonnes to become a "leading global steelmaker", he said, without giving a timeline.</p>.<p>"We still aim to become the world's top steelmaker by market capitalization, but our first aim is to be the top steelmaker (by capitalization) excluding Chinese rivals," he said.</p>.<p>Nippon Steel said in August, after posting its biggest first-quarter loss since 2012, that it could hasten and extend restructuring measures to contend with the tough business environment created by the Covid-19 pandemic.</p>.<p>Hashimoto reiterated that "additional restructuring measures are necessary", but did not give any further details. The company will announce such measures when finalised, he said.</p>.<p>To cope with slumping demand amid the coronavirus pandemic, Nippon Steel has temporarily idled about 30% of its furnace volume, suspending six blast furnaces out of 15 in total in Japan.</p>.<p>Hashimoto said Nippon Steel may resume operation at one of the six suspended furnaces by end-March if a faster-than-expected recovery in demand in China and Japan continues.</p>.<p>Nippon Steel plans to announce its carbon reduction plans to 2030 and 2050 during the financial year to end-March 2021, Hashimoto said.</p>
<p>Japan's top steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp is seeking overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&As) but not for further M&A deals at home, its president, Eiji Hashimoto, said on Tuesday.</p>.<p>"We are not considering to proceed with any further M&As in Japan, but we want to seek M&As overseas," Hashimoto told a news conference, the key growth markets for Nippon Steel being India, the United States and ASEAN countries.</p>.<p>The world's third-biggest steelmaker wants to boost its group-wide crude steel output to 100 million tonnes from about 65 million tonnes to become a "leading global steelmaker", he said, without giving a timeline.</p>.<p>"We still aim to become the world's top steelmaker by market capitalization, but our first aim is to be the top steelmaker (by capitalization) excluding Chinese rivals," he said.</p>.<p>Nippon Steel said in August, after posting its biggest first-quarter loss since 2012, that it could hasten and extend restructuring measures to contend with the tough business environment created by the Covid-19 pandemic.</p>.<p>Hashimoto reiterated that "additional restructuring measures are necessary", but did not give any further details. The company will announce such measures when finalised, he said.</p>.<p>To cope with slumping demand amid the coronavirus pandemic, Nippon Steel has temporarily idled about 30% of its furnace volume, suspending six blast furnaces out of 15 in total in Japan.</p>.<p>Hashimoto said Nippon Steel may resume operation at one of the six suspended furnaces by end-March if a faster-than-expected recovery in demand in China and Japan continues.</p>.<p>Nippon Steel plans to announce its carbon reduction plans to 2030 and 2050 during the financial year to end-March 2021, Hashimoto said.</p>