Japan: Beer makers close plants after earthquake

Japanese manufacturers including the large breweries closed plants after the nation’s strongest earthquake damaged factories and crippled nuclear power plants, causing electricity shortages, Bloomberg reported on March, 14.

In Sendai, where many parts of the city were under water, four large beer-storage tanks at Kirin Brewery Co.'s factory were toppled. The factory's storage area was swamped, and workers were forced to seek refuge on the roof.

There were no reports of injuries, the newspaper Asahi Shimbun reports. Sapporo Breweries Ltd. said the ground level of some parts of its plant in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, appeared to have fallen and water was flowing in, which officials said could have been caused by earthquake liquefaction.

Asahi Breweries Ltd., Japan’s biggest brewer by volume, will reduce production at a plant in Kanagawa prefecture by 50 percent because of blackouts, said Takayuki Tanaka, a spokesman for the Tokyo-based company. It has halted operations at factories in Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures. “The market will remain weak,” Matsuno said. “Japan’s economy will be hurt for a while, and then will show a big recovery on rebuilding efforts.”

16 March, 2011