Tokyo, Nov. 5 (Jiji Press)--Nippon Paper Industries Co. is set to give up the resumption of paper pulp production at its plant heavily damaged by a massive earthquake that hit Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, in late July, it was learned Thursday.

The company apparently believes that restarting production at the plant in the city of Yatsushiro in the prefecture, part of the Kyushu region, is difficult because huge costs would be required to rebuild the factory.

Nippon Paper plans to keep the facility as a base and maintain jobs there. It will consider how to utilize the facility.

The firm is scheduled to announce its earnings for April-September on Friday, with its president, Akira Sebe, expected to give an explanation on the future of the Yatsushiro plant, among other things.

The factory suffered massive damage in the July 28 temblor, such as the collapse of a chimney resulting in the deaths of nine people. The quake measured up to 7, the highest level on Japan's seismic intensity scale.

The heavily damaged chimney at Nippon Paper Industries' plant in the city of Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, which was hit hard by a powerful earthquake on July 28, photographed on Aug. 9 from a drone

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]