Mitsubishi Paper Mills Updates Earthquake, Tsunami Damages

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The company's Hachinohe mill (Hachinohe city, Aomori prefecture) has stopped operations. The Tsunami flooded the ground floor of the mill and the electrical system was severely damaged. Damage to the buildings and the paper machines were rather mild. Based on the above situation, resumption of operations are planned as follows :

• From the end of April: one by one startup of power plants (recovery of utility generation facility)
• From mid-May: one by one startup of paper machines and coaters (seven paper machines and three coaters).

To contribute to a nationwide power shortage, the company is negotiating with the relevant ministries, Aomori prefecture, and Tohoku Electric Power to supply some power to Tohoku Electric Power from the mill's power plant as soon as it resumes.

Damage at the Kitakami Division facilities (Kitakami HiTech Paper Co., Kitakami City, Iwate Prefecture) is relatively minor, and the hygienic paper production facilities were restarted March 21. Despite some concern about the shortage of certain raw materials, from the beginning of April, the pulp plant, the paper machine, and the resin coaters will be started up stepwise.

Damage at the Shirakawa mill (Nishigou, Nishishirakawa County, Fukushima Prefecture) is also minimal and the stock finishing process was started up March 18. From March 23 on, it is expected to recover fully including two paper machines, though it may take more time to reach full capacity production due to the shortage of heavy oil supply.

The product inventory at the Hachinohe mill was flooded by the tsunami and damaged by the earthquake. The total damage of the inventory is still under investigation. Inventories in the company's warehouses in the Kitakami, Sendai, and Kanto area were also damaged by the earthquake. However, the damage was minor and limited. The impact on earnings is still being investigated and will be reported separately.