Currently, approximately 180 companies with 16,000 employees and a shipment value of 9 97
billion Yen, which is approximately a share of 13.5% of the national production, in the
prefecture are involved in steel making.
About 72% of the shipment is provided by the major furnace make Nihon-Koukan Inc. and
Nisshin-Seikou. The factories of both companies are concentrated in Fukuyama and Kure.
The steel making industry of this prefecture was initiated in 1895 with the construction of
the crucible and Siemens-Martin (open-hearth) furnaces of the former navy arsenal. After the
war these enterprises were privatized and thus led to the establishement of large enterprises.
In particular the iron mill of Nihon-Koukan Inc. which settled in Fukuyama, has a raw iron
production capacity of 16 million ton. That made this mill at that time the worlds largest
iron mill. Presently, the raw iron production in the prefecture is about 10.5 million ton.
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