Nippon Paper Industries' board decided on 6 November 2026 to end graphic-paper and pulp operations at the Yatsushiro mill in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, after damage from the 2026 Kumamoto earthquake. The company said it will not restart the paper machines, pulp-production equipment and related facilities that the quake knocked offline.
What will not come back
The company said inspections found severe damage to production equipment and buildings across a wide area of the mill. Repairing or replacing the main equipment in full would take roughly three to four years and cost a considerable sum, so it judged restoration to be extremely difficult.
The decision covers three paper machines, all idle since the earthquake.
| Machine | Capacity (000 tonnes/yr) | Main products |
|---|---|---|
| No. 4 | 35 | Wood-free paper |
| No. 6 | 66 | Wood-free paper, PPC paper |
| N1 | 110 | Newsprint, PPC paper |
The company framed the closure within its Medium-Term Management Plan 2030, which treats consolidating production sites for graphic paper, a product facing shrinking demand, as a priority structural reform.
Where the output goes
Nippon Paper said it will move Yatsushiro products to its other mills while weighing stable supply to customers. For some products it plans contract production by other companies or discontinuation. The disclosure does not say which products fall under which route.
What remains open
The decision covers graphic paper and pulp only; the disclosure does not say the whole site is closing. The company decided to halt construction of production equipment for a household-paper business, planned for Yatsushiro under the same management plan, and to review the schedule and commercial viability. It aims to decide the household-paper policy within the current fiscal year.
The company is also studying new uses for the site, including domestic timber, and is seeking partners from a wide range of fields, including other companies. It cites a site of about 330,000 square metres, water and power infrastructure, Yatsushiro port for logistics, and a timber supply chain built up across Kyushu. It expects that turning its future vision for the site into a concrete plan will take considerable time.
For employees at Yatsushiro, Nippon Paper said it will try to secure jobs through transfers within the company and group, with attention to individual wishes and circumstances. It will check the effect on partner companies and discuss responses with each, working with Kumamoto Prefecture and Yatsushiro city.
The cost
Impairment and related losses from the decision are included in the special loss for earthquake losses. Nippon Paper booked a loss of ¥15.1bn, including fixed-asset impairment, in the interim period, and its full-year earnings forecast includes about ¥20bn of such losses. The disclosure refers readers to a separate notice published the same day on special-loss recognition and revised earnings forecasts.