Nippon Steel, the world's second-biggest steelmaker, booked a nine-month loss on Thursday, hit by a slump in exports earlier in the year, and it halved its full-year profit outlook to below market consensus.

Nippon Steel, which competes with China's Baoshan Steel and South Korea's Posco, reported an April-December recurring loss -- before tax and one-offs -- of 43.6 billion yen ($483 million) versus a year-earlier profit of 410.4 billion yen.

The company halved its forecast for the year to March to a 10 billion yen profit from its previous view of 20 billion yen. That is below the market consensus for annual profit of 33.48 billion yen in a poll of 20 analysts for Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S -- about one-tenth of the 336.14 billion yen profit booked in 2008/09.

Japanese steelmakers' production nearly halved in January-March last year as the global economic downturn wiped out demand for cars and new houses. But a sharp turnaround in exports to emerging Asian economies helped them recover 90 per cent of their peak output levels late in the year.

Shares in Nippon Steel have lost 9 per cent in the past six months, underperforming the Nikkei average's 1 per cent drop, but beating domestic rival JFE Holdings Inc's 16 per cent fall and Baosteel's 22 percent decline. POSCO has gained 10 per cent over the same period. – Reuters