Sumitomo Metal Ind says no plan to declare force majeure

TOKYO: Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd Japan's third-biggest steelmaker, said it had no plan to declare force majeure on input deliveries.

The company has suspended operations of the two giant blast furnaces at its mainstay Kashima plant in Ibaraki prefecture after the quake and tsunami.

Damage at the Kashima port is not large, although some of the company's unloading cranes collapsed, a shipping company source said.