Kirin Brewery Co. announced on July 14 that its tsunami-hit Sendai plant will resume production on Sept. 26.
Kirin Brewery Co. announced on July 14 that its tsunami-hit Sendai plant will resume production on Sept. 26.
Four beer-storage tanks at the facility were toppled, and there was extensive damage to other equipment and buildings when the tsunami spawned by the Great East Japan Earthquake smashed into the plant on March 11.
Although electricity was finally restored on July 9 and reporters were allowed to visit for the first time since the quake on July 14, Kirin representatives said it would still take another two months to get the brewery working again. The first beer shipments are not expected until early November.
That means it will miss the crucial summer months when Japan's beer consumption rises with its soaring temperatures.
Plant manager Noriya Yokota said: "At first we thought about resuming operations before the high demand, but this is the best we could do."
Unfinished repairs on damaged water processing equipment are understood to be the main cause of the delay. Although the four toppled tanks have been removed, damage is still visible on some of the remaining tanks. Kirin said the existing brewery buildings will be repaired and put back to use.
However, only two of the plant's five brewing lines, representing about 60 percent of its previous capacity, will resume production in September.
Kirin Brewery President Koichi Matsuzawa said: "We will not stop at just 60 percent, but we are still considering where to take the next step."
With Japan's thirst for beer in long-term decline, the prospects for the Kirin plant and other breweries in the region are unclear. All of Japan's major brewers have excess production capacity. During the current crisis, Kirin and its rival Asahi Breweries Ltd. have been able to make up for the decreased production at their quake-affected plants by increasing production in other parts of the country.
Operations were also temporarily stopped due to quake-damage at Sapporo Breweries Ltd.'s Natori plant in Miyagi Prefecture and Asahi Breweries Ltd.'s Motomiya plant in Fukushima Prefecture. Sapporo's operations resumed in May. Asahi officials said operations would not resume at Motomiya until the autumn because of damage to the outer walls of the brewing building.