The domestic steel works are successively planning to shut down blast furnaces to maintain their international competitiveness, which affects the business of ASUs and the on-site gas supply system.

Nisshin Steel Kure Works, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp.(NSSMC) Kokura Works and Kobe Steel Kobe Works will shut down 3 blast furnaces by the end of 2018. To cope with the enlarged gap of steel demand and supply in Asia, the domestic steelmaking society which pursues an enhancement of competitiveness in the global market is now successively planning on the integration of blast furnaces. The trend has come to such a stage as to inevitably affect the future operation or new construction of ASUs and on-site gas business which generate and supply oxygen for blast furnaces.

On February 1, NSSMC announced its agreement with Nisshin Steel for affiliation which is scheduled in Mach 2017. Along with the agreement, Nisshin Steel is going to shut down Blast Furnace No. 2 of Kure Works to which O2and N2 are supplied by Nisshin Sanso (owned 90% by Nisshin Steel and 10% by TNSC). Before the abovementioned arrangement, NSSMC announced in the Midterm Business Plan (FY2015 to 2017) in March 2015 that it would be going to shut down its Kokura Blast Furnace No.2. In the Kokura area where former Sumitomo Metal Industries Kokura Works was located, Air Water supplies on-site gases for the heat source of the blast furnace.

In addition, Kobe Steel also has a plan to shut down its blast furnace in 2017 after integrating the upstream production process to Kakogawa Works. Air Water now supplies on-site gas to Kobe Works of Kobe Steel.