After the June 9 explosion, Japan's Toho Titanium suspended operations at its Chigasaki plant near Tokyo and stopped production of titanium sponge and catalysts.
A company representative told Argus it was not clear what caused the incident, but an investigation by the country's authorities was ongoing. The representative said it was unclear how long the outage would last and how it would affect the company's production, adding that there had been no casualties so far.
The company produces titanium sponge and polyolefin catalysts at its Chigasaki plant, although the company did not disclose which specific facility the explosion occurred. According to the representative, the company produces 9600 tons of titanium sponge per year at its Chigasaki plant.
The company stopped production at the Chigasaki plant at the end of April due to another "operational issue", but resumed production on May 17.
