TOKYO — Major Japanese construction equipment manufacturers see a tough year ahead, earnings out by Monday show, with the Trump administration’s tariffs expected to cut into global demand and raise costs.
In the construction machinery segment of Kobe Steel, owner of Kobelco Construction Machinery, sales fell 4% to 388 billion yen ($2.61 billion) and ordinary profit doubled to 18.7 billion yen in the fiscal year ended this past March. For fiscal 2025, the company forecasts the segment’s sales at 400 billion yen, up 3%, but ordinary profit at 9.5 billion yen, down 49%.
