Toyota global sales in May up 6.9%, record for month
Meanwhile, global production dipped 0.7 percent to 806,677 units, falling below the same period the previous year for the first time in five months.
The United States raised the tariff rate on imported passenger vehicles by 25 percentage points to 27.5 percent in early April, with Tokyo and Washington holding multiple rounds of talks to negotiate an agreement.
By region, sales in the United States grew 10.9 percent to 240,176 units. Those in China were up 6.8 percent to 149,887 units, with hybrid vehicles especially sought after due to government subsidies.
Domestic sales climbed 4.4 percent to 106,586 units on a rebound from the previous year when Toyota was hit by a verification scandal. The launch of new models including the Land Cruiser 250 series also helped lift sales in the country.
The automaker said production in the United States dropped 1.8 percent to 120,539 units due to one fewer working day. Domestic output fell 5.4 percent to 241,570 units.
Honda Motor Co., the country's second-biggest automaker, also benefited from greater demand in the United States in May, with sales up 6.5 percent from the previous year to 135,432 units.
But globally, sales slumped by 4.1 percent to 298,167 units, with those in China logging its 16th consecutive monthly decline on fierce price competition.
Meanwhile, Nissan Motor Co., which is struggling to turn around its business and undergoing restructuring, saw global output decline 16.5 percent to 229,645 units and global sales slip 6.0 percent to 256,159 units.
The company earlier this week said it forecasts a net loss of 200 billion yen ($1.38 billion) for the April-June period, weighed down by effects of the U.S. tariffs.
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The Mainichi
4 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Fatal explosion at US Steel's plant raises questions about its future, despite heavy investment
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- The fatal explosion last week at U.S. Steel's Pittsburgh-area coal-processing plant has revived debate about its future just as the iconic American company was emerging from a long period of uncertainty. The fortunes of steelmaking in the U.S. -- along with profits, share prices and steel prices -- have been buoyed by years of friendly administrations in Washington that slapped tariffs on foreign imports and bolstered the industry's anti-competitive trade cases against China. Most recently, President Donald Trump's administration postponed new hazardous air pollution requirements for the nation's roughly dozen coke plants, like Clairton, and he approved U.S. Steel's nearly $15 billion acquisition by Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel. Nippon Steel's promised infusion of cash has brought vows that steelmaking will continue in the Mon Valley, a river valley south of Pittsburgh long synonymous with steelmaking. "We're investing money here. And we wouldn't have done the deal with Nippon Steel if we weren't absolutely sure that we were going to have an enduring future here in the Mon Valley," David Burritt, U.S. Steel's CEO, told a news conference the day after the explosion. "You can count on this facility to be around for a long, long time." Will the explosion change anything? The explosion killed two workers and hospitalized 10 with a blast so powerful that it took hours to find two missing workers beneath charred wreckage and rubble. The cause is under investigation. The plant is considered the largest coking operation in North America and, along with a blast furnace and finishing mill up the Monongahela River, is one of a handful of integrated steelmaking operations left in the U.S. The explosion now could test Nippon Steel's resolve in propping up the nearly 110-year-old Clairton plant, or at least force it to spend more than it had anticipated. Nippon Steel didn't respond to a question as to whether the explosion will change its approach to the plant. Rather, a spokesperson for the company said its "commitment to the Mon Valley remains strong" and that it sent "technical experts to work with the local teams in the Clairton Plant, and to provide our full support." Meanwhile, Burritt said he had talked to top Nippon Steel officials after the explosion and that "this facility and the Mon Valley are here to stay." U.S. Steel officials maintain that safety is their top priority and that they spend $100 million a year on environmental compliance at Clairton alone. However, repairing Clairton could be expensive, an investigation into the explosion could turn up more problems, and an official from the United Steelworkers union said it's a constant struggle to get U.S. Steel to invest in its plants. Besides that, production at the facility could be affected for some time. The plant has six batteries of ovens and two -- where the explosion occurred -- were damaged. Two others are on a reduced production schedule because of the explosion. There is no timeline to get the damaged batteries running again, U.S. Steel said. Accidents are nothing new at Clairton Accidents are nothing new at Clairton, which heats coal to high temperatures to make coke, a key component in steelmaking, and produces combustible gases as byproducts. An explosion in February injured two workers. Even as Nippon Steel was closing the deal in June, a breakdown at the plant dealt three days of a rotten egg odor into the air around it from elevated hydrogen sulfide emissions, the environmental group GASP reported. The Breathe Project, a public health organization, said U.S. Steel has been forced to pay $57 million in fines and settlements since Jan. 1, 2020, for problems at the Clairton plant. A lawsuit over a Christmas Eve fire at the Clairton plant in 2018 that saturated the area's air for weeks with sulfur dioxide produced a withering assessment of conditions there. An engineer for the environmental groups that sued wrote that he "found no indication that U.S. Steel has an effective, comprehensive maintenance program for the Clairton plant." The Clairton plant, he wrote, is "inherently dangerous because of the combination of its deficient maintenance and its defective design." U.S. Steel settled, agreeing to spend millions on upgrades. Matthew Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, said U.S. Steel has shown more willingness to spend money on fines, lobbying the government and buying back shares to reward shareholders than making its plants safe. Will Clairton be modernized? It's not clear whether Nippon Steel will change Clairton. Central to Trump's approval of the acquisition was Nippon Steel's promises to invest $11 billion into U.S. Steel's aging plants and to give the federal government a say in decisions involving domestic steel production, including plant closings. But much of the $2.2 billion that Nippon Steel has earmarked for the Mon Valley plants is expected to go toward upgrading the finishing mill, or building a new one. For years before the acquisition, U.S. Steel had signaled that the Mon Valley was on the chopping block. That left workers there uncertain whether they'd have jobs in a couple years and whispering that U.S. Steel couldn't fill openings because nobody believed the jobs would exist much longer. Relics of steelmaking's past In many ways, U.S. Steel's Mon Valley plants are relics of steelmaking's past. In the early 1970s, U.S. steel production led the world and was at an all-time high, thanks to 62 coke plants that fed 141 blast furnaces. Nobody in the U.S. has opened a new blast furnace in decades, as foreign competition devastated the American steel industry and coal fell out of favor. Now, China is dominant in steel and heavily invested in coal-based steelmaking. In the U.S., there are barely a dozen coke plants and blast furnaces left, as the country's steelmaking has shifted to cheaper electric arc furnaces that use electricity, not coal. Blast furnaces won't entirely go away, analysts say, since they produce metals that are preferred by automakers, appliance makers and oil and gas exploration firms. Still, Christopher Briem, an economist at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Social and Urban Research, questioned whether the Clairton plant really will survive much longer, given its age and condition. It could be particularly vulnerable if the economy slides into recession or the fundamentals of the American steel market shift, he said.
Japan Today
7 hours ago
- Japan Today
Fatal explosion at U.S. Steel's plant raises questions about its future, despite heavy investment
A portion of the Clairton Coke Works, a U.S. Steel plant, is seen in Clairton, Pa, on Aug 11. By MARC LEVY The fatal explosion last week at U.S. Steel's Pittsburgh-area coal-processing plant has revived debate about its future just as the iconic American company was emerging from a long period of uncertainty. The fortunes of steelmaking in the U.S. — along with profits, share prices and steel prices — have been buoyed by years of friendly administrations in Washington that slapped tariffs on foreign imports and bolstered the industry's anti-competitive trade cases against China. Most recently, President Donald Trump's administration postponed new hazardous air pollution requirements for the nation's roughly dozen coke plants, like Clairton, and he approved U.S. Steel's nearly $15 billion acquisition by Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel. Nippon Steel's promised infusion of cash has brought vows that steelmaking will continue in the Mon Valley, a river valley south of Pittsburgh long synonymous with steelmaking. 'We're investing money here. And we wouldn't have done the deal with Nippon Steel if we weren't absolutely sure that we were going to have an enduring future here in the Mon Valley," David Burritt, U.S. Steel's CEO, told a news conference the day after the explosion. 'You can count on this facility to be around for a long, long time.' The explosion killed two workers and hospitalized 10 with a blast so powerful that it took hours to find two missing workers beneath charred wreckage and rubble. The cause is under investigation. The plant is considered the largest coking operation in North America and, along with a blast furnace and finishing mill up the Monongahela River, is one of a handful of integrated steelmaking operations left in the U.S. The explosion now could test Nippon Steel's resolve in propping up the nearly 110-year-old Clairton plant, or at least force it to spend more than it had anticipated. Nippon Steel didn't respond to a question as to whether the explosion will change its approach to the plant. Rather, a spokesperson for the company said its 'commitment to the Mon Valley remains strong' and that it sent 'technical experts to work with the local teams in the Clairton Plant, and to provide our full support.' Meanwhile, Burritt said he had talked to top Nippon Steel officials after the explosion and that 'this facility and the Mon Valley are here to stay.' U.S. Steel officials maintain that safety is their top priority and that they spend $100 million a year on environmental compliance at Clairton alone. However, repairing Clairton could be expensive, an investigation into the explosion could turn up more problems, and an official from the United Steelworkers union said it's a constant struggle to get U.S. Steel to invest in its plants. Besides that, production at the facility could be affected for some time. The plant has six batteries of ovens and two — where the explosion occurred — were damaged. Two others are on a reduced production schedule because of the explosion. There is no timeline to get the damaged batteries running again, U.S. Steel said. Accidents are nothing new at Clairton, which heats coal to high temperatures to make coke, a key component in steelmaking, and produces combustible gases as byproducts. An explosion in February injured two workers. Even as Nippon Steel was closing the deal in June, a breakdown at the plant dealt three days of a rotten egg odor into the air around it from elevated hydrogen sulfide emissions, the environmental group GASP reported. The Breathe Project, a public health organization, said U.S. Steel has been forced to pay $57 million in fines and settlements since Jan. 1, 2020, for problems at the Clairton plant. A lawsuit over a Christmas Eve fire at the Clairton plant in 2018 that saturated the area's air for weeks with sulfur dioxide produced a withering assessment of conditions there. An engineer for the environmental groups that sued wrote that he 'found no indication that U.S. Steel has an effective, comprehensive maintenance program for the Clairton plant.' The Clairton plant, he wrote, is "inherently dangerous because of the combination of its deficient maintenance and its defective design." U.S. Steel settled, agreeing to spend millions on upgrades. Matthew Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, said U.S. Steel has shown more willingness to spend money on fines, lobbying the government and buying back shares to reward shareholders than making its plants safe. It's not clear whether Nippon Steel will change Clairton. Central to Trump's approval of the acquisition was Nippon Steel's promises to invest $11 billion into U.S. Steel's aging plants and to give the federal government a say in decisions involving domestic steel production, including plant closings. But much of the $2.2 billion that Nippon Steel has earmarked for the Mon Valley plants is expected to go toward upgrading the finishing mill, or building a new one. For years before the acquisition, U.S. Steel had signaled that the Mon Valley was on the chopping block. That left workers there uncertain whether they'd have jobs in a couple years and whispering that U.S. Steel couldn't fill openings because nobody believed the jobs would exist much longer. In many ways, U.S. Steel's Mon Valley plants are relics of steelmaking's past. In the early 1970s, U.S. steel production led the world and was at an all-time high, thanks to 62 coke plants that fed 141 blast furnaces. Nobody in the U.S. has built a blast furnace since then, as foreign competition devastated the American steel industry and coal fell out of favor. Now, China is dominant in steel and heavily invested in coal-based steelmaking. In the U.S., there are barely a dozen coke plants and blast furnaces left, as the country's steelmaking has shifted to cheaper electric arc furnaces that use electricity, not coal. Blast furnaces won't entirely go away, analysts say, since they produce metals that are preferred by automakers, appliance makers and oil and gas exploration firms. Still, Christopher Briem, an economist at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Social and Urban Research, questioned whether the Clairton plant really will survive much longer, given its age and condition. It could be particularly vulnerable if the economy slides into recession or the fundamentals of the American steel market shift, he said. 'I'm not quite sure it's all set in stone as people believe,' Briem said. 'If the market does not bode well for U.S. Steel, for American steel, is Nippon Steel really going to keep these things?' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Yomiuri Shimbun
17 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japanese Firms Set up Vocational Schools in Asia, as Competition Grows with China and South Korea over Workers
BANGKOK — Japanese businesses are increasingly moving to set up Japanese-style vocational schools in Asia in an effort to secure ready workers for their local factories. In recent years, Chinese and South Korean companies have pushed more quickly into Southeast Asia. Amid growing competition with these firms for staff, Japanese companies are rushing to try to retain workers. 'I love the sounds of Japanese car engines. I'd like to work for a Japanese automaker and help out on development,' said a 16-year-old student learning car maintenance at Politeknik Mitra Industri, a vocational school in an industrial park in the suburbs of Jakarta. The industrial park, which is run by Marubeni Corp. and other businesses, houses a total of 385 firms, including many Japanese companies, such as Honda Motor Co. and Denso Corp. About 3,400 students attend the school, which was founded in 2012. The school offers eight courses, including on machinery, the electronics industry and accounting. Of those who graduated between 2015 and 2024, more than 70% got jobs at Japanese companies. 'We want to make a place where students can acquire advanced knowledge and technical skills, so that local youth can become the management for manufacturers,' said Yoshihiro Kobi, an executive at the foundation that manages the school and a former Marubeni employee. The foundation plans to open a technical university in September and offer enrollment to working emerging countries, companies often need to teach new employees basic rules, such as that they must come to work by the start of working hours. Those who have received instruction are valuable resources for businesses, reducing the burdens of employee training. In 2018, Toyota Tsusho Corp. opened an educational institution at an industrial park in India's western state of Gujarat. Students learn manufacturing skills and business etiquette, among other subject matter, over three years. Of 61 graduates, 45 have taken jobs at the companies where they had hands-on training, some of which were Japanese firms. In Thailand, a technical college, which was established in 2019 with the help of a yen-based loan from the Japanese government, has provided staff to Japanese companies doing business there. In recent years, Chinese and South Korean businesses have increasingly moved to open plants in Southeast Asia. Some of these rival firms have poached staff from Japanese firms by offering attractive wages. In a job preference survey by Persol Research and Consulting Co. in 2022, the share of those saying they wanted to work for a Japanese company fell in many Southeast Asian countries compared to a 2019 survey. The trend could be even more pronounced now. 'Japanese firms are slow to raise wages and give promotions, which raises the odds that highly motivated workers will leave,' said Ryotaro Inoue, a senior researcher at Persol. 'To keep staff at Japanese firms, they will need to engage in education locally over the long term to help people feel attached to Japan. They should also make it clear that Japanese companies offer stable work style.'
