Expressing their deepest sympathies to those who have been afflicted by the Pacific Ocean earthquake last Friday, Japan Tobacco today announced the presently known effect on the group.

In a press release, Japan Tobacco (JT) said it was unable to complete confirmation on safety of some of its employees because of communication problems with the afflicted areas and that it will continue to undertake the group-wide initiative to gain information.
"We will do everything we can to collect information, giving safety and human lives the first priority", said the company.
JT's factories at Kita-Kanto, Koriyama and Tomobe have suspended operations because of damage to the facilites, as has Tagajo factory of Nihon Filter, a JT group company. The extent of the damage is currently being assessed.
There was further damage to JT’s buildings in Morioka, Sendai, Mito and Utsunomiya sales offices, Sendai order processing center, and some distribution depots (located in Aomori, Morioka, Sendai, Mito and Utsunomiya) which belong to TS Network, a JT Group company, and some of these operations were suspended.
JT expects that the planned power cuts will have an effect on its operations, but the extent is yet to be determined.
In light of the anticipated effects on the supply of their products, JT announced that it "will do the best [they] can to secure supply".
JT is continuing production in each of the group’s factories west of Tokai District. (ci)