JMB reported that fourteen electric furnace steel makers out of major 15 makers posted lower recurring profit for the year ending March 2008 from previous year while Yamato Kogyo posted higher profit.

The report said that nine of them posted more than 25% lower profit when they failed to cover higher cost for ferrous scrap and ferroalloy through the price hike. Some makers lost money for January-March. Many of them expect lower profit for the year ending March 2009.