Sumitomo Metal restarts works at quake-hit Kashima factory

Japan steel maker Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd restarted all facilities at the Kashima plant today after last month’s earthquake and tsunami damaged its largest factory. The company resumed operations today at the No. 2 cold strip and galvanising mill, which produces automotive steel, said Kinya Yanagawa, senior executive officer in charge of the Kashima works in Ibaraki prefecture north of Tokyo. The plant will produce 60 per cent less crude steel this month than in April last year after it cut back operations, he said.

The Kashima plant, which produces more than half of Sumitomo Metal’s crude steel, was the hardest hit among major Japanese steel mills after the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11. The company said last week it would book a ¥60 billion ($730 million) charge related to the earthquake. The company shut its Kashima works after the magnitude-9 quake damaged blast furnaces, a coke gas holder and port facilities. Sumitomo Metal said April 14 it aimed to restore normal operations at Kashima by the end of May.