News

We would like to express our sincere sympathies with all of you who were struck by the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake that occurred on March 11th, 2011. We are hoping for the early revival in the area that is suffering from the disaster.

As of 1:00p.m., April 1 (Japan Time), there has been little change in our situation since our 6th report dated March 25th. All of operations at both Shin-Etsu Chemical Kashima Plant (Kamisu, Ibaraki Pref.) and Shin-Etsu Handotai Shirakawa Plant (Nishigo Village, Fukushima Pref.) are being wholly halted. We hereby inform you of the current situation of those production sites, as follows;

Current situation of Shin-Etsu Handotai Shirakawa Plant

Damages of the production facilities and equipments have been observed by inspection work until now. Although we initiate inspection and repair work for each equipment at present, it is still unclear how long time will be needed for restoration. For the time being, it is estimated that we are forced to manage the production and shipments based on the limited production capacity at other plants of Shin-Etsu Handotai Group except for Shin-Etsu Handotai Shirakawa Plant. We continue to do our utmost for recovery of the Shirakawa Plant as early as possible.

Current situation of Shin-Etsu Chemical Kashima Plant

Some damages of the production facilities and equipments have been observed until now. Although, utility supplies such as electric power and water have been partially resumed in the Kashima industrial complex, it is estimated that it may take time to re-start the production at the Kashima Plant. We are carrying out various restoration works in order to resume the operations at the Kashima Plant in accordance with the timing as the Kashima industrial complex has been recovered as a whole.

Influence of electric power outages

The rolling blackouts, which are implemented and announced by TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY and Tohoku-Electric Power Co.,Inc., are affecting the operations at Shin-Etsu Group’s production sites located in their respective electric power supply areas. We will cooperate for reduction and restriction of the usage of electric power with all the Company efforts. Meanwhile, we are requesting the electric power companies to provide a stable supply of electric power because we have facilities and equipments that need to be operated continuously due to the safety reasons.

We will continue to do our utmost for recovery .We will announce the updated information if any situation has changed.