Katya Golubkova

Japanese trading house Marubeni said on Wednesday Masumi Kakinoki, 67, its president and chief executive officer, will step down to become chairman of the board effective on April 1, 2025.

Japan's Nippon Steel hopes to close its $15 billion deal to buy US Steel by year-end before Republican Donald Trump retakes the White House in January, a senior executive said, as the acquisition is core to its future growth.

Japanese trading house Itochu booked a 6% increase in first-half profits, it said on Wednesday, as a rise in food, textiles and the FamilyMart convenience store chain offset the impact of lower prices on the metals and energy segments.

Japanese trading house Mitsui raised its full-year net profit forecast to March 2025 to 920 billion yen ($6 billion) on Friday, from 900 billion yen previously, on a stronger outlook for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) business and asset sales.

Japanese trading house Mitsubishi sees its liquefied natural gas (LNG) output capacity growing by 5 million metric tons per year to over 17 million tons early in the 2030s thanks to its stakes in projects including in Malaysia and Canada.

Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp said on Thursday it was slowly resuming production at the Ambatovy nickel and cobalt project in Madagascar after last month's pipeline issue and is reviewing future output volumes.

Japanese trading house Marubeni forecast on Friday an increase in cash flow for the fiscal year ending in March, allowing for additional shareholder distributions and spending on new investments.

Tokyo Gas , Japan's biggest city gas provider, on Wednesday posted 17.2 billion yen ($112 million) in first-half net profit to end-September, down 84% from the same period a year earlier, hit by lower gas prices at home and North America.

Japan's Kansai Electric Power and Tokyo Electric Power reported on Wednesday drops in their first-half net profit of 38% and 46%, respectively, due to losses linked to delays in adjusting power prices to reflect fuel price changes.

Marubeni on Friday began selling salmon from a farm operated near mount Fuji by its Norwegian partner, marking another step in Japanese commodity trading houses' expansion into the food business.