Japanese steelmaker Sumitomo Metal has made its first shipment of steel from inventories at its Kashima plant by truck to domestic customers after the incident.

The shipment is mainly consisted of 1,200 tons of light-weight H beam, pipe piles and steel sheet.

The Company's facility in the eastern prefecture of Ibaraki suffered major damage by the earthquake and currently there is no exact time frame for the recovery.

In fact, the plant produced 6.82 million tons of crude steel in 2010 and consists of mills producing pipe, tube, hot and cold-rolled strip and plate while also consisting of galvanizing lines.