Tokyo — Product deliveries by most of Japan's steel producers from their plants in western Japan are expected to be delayed after heavy rains late last week temporarily halted production at some facilities, the mills said Monday.
There were however, no damages at the facilities, they added.
Heavy rains that started last Thursday had caused flooding and landslides in western Japan, killing at least 94 people while nearly 60 were still missing as of Monday afternoon.
Japan's integrated mills Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., JFE Steel, Kobe Steel and Nisshin Steel have production bases in western Japan, while major mini-mills such as Tokyo Steel Manufacturing and Kyoei Steel also have steelworks in the region.
JFE Steel has banked its blast furnaces at Kurashiki and Fukuyama over the weekend because heavy rain soaked its materials and it was not efficient to continue production, a company spokesman said. "Facilities have already restarted in order. But we still expect some impact to product deliveries," he said.
At Nisshin Steel, its Kure works is facing problems receiving industrial water and part of the facilities have stopped operations, a company spokesman said. It is unclear when the works can receive industrial water.
Some facilities at NSSMC's Yawata works, Oita works in Kyushu, Hikari works in Yamaguchi and Wakayama works near Osaka, have stopped for safety checks, a NSSMC spokeswoman said. They have either been restarted or will restart after they are confirmed safe.
A Tokyo Steel spokesman said its Okayama works is in one of the areas which experienced heaviest rainfall. Some employees were not able to get to work after their houses were flooded. The company is now studying the impact of the flooding on its scrap arrivals and product deliveries to customers.
Likewise, Kyoei Steel is also checking the impact on its customers, a spokesman said. While Kyoei Steel's Yamaguchi plant is also located in one of the areas hardest hit by rains, there were no damages at its facility.
Meanwhile, a Kansai-based trader said deliveries would be affected in the short term.
"As some manufacturers in the area have already stopped their production, we wonder if it would slow down their consumption of steel products ... deliveries may need to be delayed," he said.
Mazda Motor has halted production at its Hofu plant in Yamaguchi and Hiroshima plant on July 7, and the stoppage will last until July 10.
Daihatsu Motor has stopped production at its plants in Osaka, Kyoto, Shiga and Oita until July 9.
