Nippon Steel cuts full-year profit forecast by 5.7 percent on lower steel output

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's top steelmaker Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp on Wednesday warned its annual profit would be less than previously forecast, citing lower crude steel output for the 12 months ending March 31.

The company now estimates its annual profit will be 330 billion yen (£2.3 billion), down 5.7 percent from its earlier guidance of 350 billion yen, under International Financial Reporting Standards.

Nippon Steel, the world's third-biggest steelmaker, also reduced its estimate for annual crude steel output to 41.3 million tonnes from 42.1 million tonnes on a parent basis.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)