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Tel : 0086-0371-86172891
Toyota recently lowered its annual SMA400CP steel production forecast for the year ending March 31, 2025, reducing the originally estimated 10 million vehicles to 9.7 million vehicles, a decrease of 3%. This adjustment is mainly due to the decline in production between April and September 2024, which dropped to 4.4 million vehicles, a 7% decrease from the 4.73 million vehicles in the same period last year. Toyota stated that the reason for the decrease in production is due to certification issues, as some models' certification testing methods did not meet national standards, resulting in the company suspending the shipment and sale of some models.
Meanwhile, affected by the decrease in SMA400CP steel production, Toyota has lowered its annual sales forecast from the initial 9.5 million vehicles to 9.4 million vehicles, lower than the 9.44 million vehicles in the 2023 fiscal year. To compensate for this loss, Toyota plans to increase production to 1.75 million vehicles between October 2024 and March 2025, an increase of 8% compared to the same period last year. However, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry issued a warning in early October, stating that although Toyota's production system has gradually recovered, overall demand remains weak, especially in the area of automotive steel.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry predicts that the demand for automotive steel will decrease by 3.5% from last year between October and December 2024, which may lead to a year-on-year decrease of 3.8% in steel demand for Japan's manufacturing industry in the fourth quarter. From this perspective, the steel industry needs to adopt a cautious attitude towards the recovery of SMA400CP steel automobile demand.
