[Ferro-alloys.com]TOKYO: Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp , the world's second-biggest steelmaker, plans to produce about 46 million tonnes of crude steel on a parent basis in the year through March 2015, Executive Vice President Katsuhiko Ota said on Friday. 

That is slightly higher than the 45.7 million tonnes Japan's largest steel maker produced in the financial year through March this year. 

Output in the last financial year rose by 2.12 million tonnes, or 4.9 per cent, on the back of strong domestic demand for construction and automobile steel, the company said during an earnings briefing. 

Nippon Steel reported group net profit of 242.75 billion yen ($2.39 billion) in the year through March, versus a loss of 124.57 billion year, in the previous 12 months.

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