Japan’s Nippon Steel announced on May 9th that it decided to close the UO pipe mill at Kashima Works and integrate the UO steel pipe production of the Kimitsu Works by the end of October to ensure production efficiency.

Nippon Steel's UO pipe mill has a total annual capacity of 1 million tons. Due to the reduction in the number of petroleum projects, the annual demand for UO steel pipes was reduced. Therefore, it was determined that a UO pipe mill can meet the annual demand for steel pipes.

Since the Kimitsu Works can produce a large number of sizes and had colored coating facilities, Nippon Steel decided to retain Kimitsu Works but closed Kashima Works.

A Tokyo trader said that the integration of production facilities will help reduce maintenance costs, and more consolidation projects will occur between Japanese integrated steel mills in the future.