Japan 8 Nonferrous Metals Smelters Post 30 Billion Yen Quake Loss

Japanese major 8 nonferrous metals smelters posted around 30 billion yen of special loss on the major earthquake damage. Many of them posted lower profit for January-March from October-December. They posted higher profit for fiscal 2010 ended March 2011 than fiscal 2009 level due to higher demand and metals price.

Mitsubishi Materials posted 5.8 billion yen of special loss on the quake damage for fiscal 2010. The firm expects additional 3 billion yen of special loss in fiscal 2011 when the Onahama copper smelter still stops the operation. JX Nippon Mining & Metals posted 8 billion yen of special loss on the quake damage while all of the damaged operations resumed the production.

Mitsui Mining & Smelting posted 3.2 billion yen of special loss on the quake damage for fiscal 2010 and expects 800 million yen of special loss for fiscal 2011. Toho Zinc posted around 1.4 billion yen of loss for fiscal 2010. The firm expects 2.6 billion yen of special loss for fiscal 2011 when the firm still tries to resume the production at Onahama smelter.

Some of the smelters including Mitsubishi Materials and Toho Zinc posted net loss for January-March. JX Nippon Mining & Metals and Mitsui Mining & Smelting posted lower profit than October-December level. Sumitomo Metal Mining with no damage from the quake posted higher profit for January-March from October-December.