Panasonic to Boost Production of Batteries as Demand Surges
Panasonic Corp. (6752), Japan’s biggest maker of batteries, plans to boost production of disposable batteries to meet surging demand after last week’s earthquake.
The Osaka-based company may raise output at its factory there as well as those in China, Thailand and Indonesia, Akira Kadota, a Tokyo-based spokesman, said by phone today.
“We haven’t finalized details of the plan yet,” he said.
Japanese consumers, facing electricity disruptions after the March 11 record earthquake, are rushing to stores to snap up daily necessities such as water, food and batteries as the risk of nuclear radiation leaks north of Tokyo escalates. Prime Minister Naoto Kan appealed for calm as he said the danger of further radiation leaks was rising at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s nuclear facility in Fukushima.
Stores in Tokyo and its suburbs ordered about 10 times more water than usual March 13-14, said Nobuo Saito, a spokesman for the government’s Consumer Affairs Agency. Food retailers sold about 9 times more chicken on those days than they did before the earthquake, he said.
About 1.3 million households were without power and 1.4 million had no running water, according to a government report. More than 310,000 people are in emergency shelters and heating systems are short of fuel, the state broadcaster reported.
Panasonic, whose facilities in northern Japan halted operations because of earthquake damage, fell 11 percent to 866 yen in Tokyo trading today. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average also declined 11 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mariko Yasu in Tokyo at myasu@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page