2026 New Year’s Message

2025 in Review

Happy New Year! I would like to extend my New Year’s greetings to all JFE Shoji Group employees in Japan and
around the world.

Let me begin by looking back at the past year.

We began FY2025 with the goal of achieving 50 billion yen in ordinary income. However, we encountered
a persistently challenging business environment for steel throughout the year due to global uncertainty.
The widening supply–demand gap, caused by sluggish domestic demand in China and the subsequent sharp
increase in Chinese steel exports worldwide, resulted in sluggish global steel prices.

Trade measures implemented by countries in response to U.S. tariff policies slowed worldwide growth and
prompted countries to step up protectionism. Despite the challenging environment for trading companies
—including weak demand coupled with trade barriers—our latest forecast of 45 billion yen in ordinary income is
a testament to everyone’s hard work in the JFE Shoji Group. I take this opportunity to express my sincere
appreciation to all of you.

Business Environment in 2026

The pace of change is likely to accelerate in 2026. In Japan, while efforts to achieve carbon neutrality are
advancing, structural challenges in the form of population decline and labor shortages are becoming increasingly severe. Consequently, we expect a continued decline in domestic steel demand, with consumption falling below
50 million tons.

While we see some positive signs for the global economy, including robust demand in the U.S. and growth in
India, uncertainty will likely persist amid global fragmentation caused by protectionist policies and geopolitical
risks. We will respond by tailoring our approach flexibly to each market. We also expect the gradual reorganization of global supply chains due to U.S. tariffs to continue, so we will restructure our own supply chains accordingly.

Our Eighth Medium-term Business Plan, which was launched in FY2025, contains no major changes to our ongoing strategic approach. Our primary strategies—overhauling our operational foundations, increasing our presence in
the Japanese market, and expanding our business in overseas markets—are designed to address the current
environment. However, I believe it is crucial to advance these initiatives ahead of schedule. Accordingly,
I encourage you to treat our rapidly changing environment as an opportunity to actively discuss relevant issues
within your business units, and, whenever necessary, to reach across our organizational boundaries to tackle
challenges identified in our medium-term plan.

Safety, Quality, and Compliance

Regarding safety and quality, regrettably the number of workplace accidents increased in Japan and overseas
last year. Many of these incidents occurred because work was performed without clearly defined compliance
requirements. To prevent any recurrence, please strengthen your work standards and thoroughly address safety
concerns before beginning any task. Safety and quality remain our top priorities. By aiming for zero accidents and adhering to established work procedures, we can deliver the quality products that our customers demand.

I also ask everyone to maintain legal and regulatory compliance. Our business activities fundamentally depend on the trust of society. To earn that trust, compliance must be the top priority in all aspects of our operations.
The JFE Shoji Group is not interested in ill-gotten gains achieved through rule violations. Please remain mindful of and strictly adhere to compliance in all aspects of your work.

Addressing Key Challenges

We will continue our efforts to address climate change and help create a circular economy. One of our initiatives is to reduce our domestic CO2 emissions by 27.5% by FY2027 compared with 2019 levels, including through the use
of renewable energy at our domestic operating companies. We will also address climate change indirectly by
increasing the volume of environmental materials we handle, including steel scrap, waste tires and biomass.
Regarding energy efficiency, we will increase the volume of electrical steel sheet and automotive steel products
that we handle. Addressing environmental issues is our responsibility, and it is a commitment that we will
continue to uphold.

We will also advance initiatives to manage our human capital. In terms of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), we are promoting career development with the goal of achieving 20% or more female representation in management by 2030. From a talent development perspective, we will continue sending employees on new overseas
assignments and implementing job rotations. Embracing diverse values means caring for one another as
colleagues. This fosters comfortable working environments for all, maximizes individual performance, and
ultimately drives the growth of both individuals and the organization.

Final Thoughts

Our Eighth Medium-term Business Plan includes an ordinary income target of 100 billion yen within ten years.
To achieve this goal, we must foster a corporate culture that encourages our development and implementation of
innovative approaches. The keys will be how to “challenge” and “change” things in order to come up with new
ideas and approaches that have never been attempted before. Of course, this will require time and energy. This is why I am calling for accelerated efforts to further streamline and standardize our operations in 2026. Each of you
should strive to take a leading role in transforming the way we work, even if it means challenging well-established customs and precedents. Naturally, making changes to our operations will require the understanding of your
superiors, including senior managers. If you encounter such problems, please take full advantage of our Business Process Re-engineering and J-Muscle reform systems. Let’s make 2026 a pivotal year in transforming JFE Shoji’s
corporate culture.

Finally, our company is supported by people working every day in locations around the world. Wherever you are,
know that we are all connected by our corporate purpose: “Steel and More: Bridging Global Progress.”

I sincerely hope that 2026 will be a healthy, fruitful and productive year for all of you and your families.