Manufacturers of heavy construction equipment Komatsu and Hitachi Construction Machinery, together with the Panasonic technology group, joined the list of Japanese companies that will stop cooperating with Russia on Friday, Nikkei Asia reports.
Komatsu will stop supplying construction equipment to Russia, either through imports or through local production. Until now, the company manufactured excavators and dump trucks at a plant in the western Russian city of Yaroslavl.
"Due to the situation in Ukraine, the supply chain has been disrupted and the impact on the financial and economic situation remains uncertain," Komatsu said in a statement.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a region that includes Russia and former members of the Soviet bloc contributed 8% of Komatsu's revenue in the last three quarters last year.
At the same time, Hitachi Construction announced the gradual cessation of local production and exports of construction equipment to Russia. The Hitachi Construction Excavator Plant near Moscow will maintain production in the short term, using existing spare part reserves, but, according to current forecasts, the plant will cease operations in mid-April.
Important components of the excavators are delivered from Japan anHitachi Construction has determined that shipping delays and other factors will seriously affect the production schedule.
The CIS accounted for 4% of Hitachi Construction's revenue.
Earlier on Friday, Panasonic suspended virtually all business operations with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, the Japanese group referred to "economic, logistical and other practical problems." Shipments of the company's goods to Russia have been suspended this month.
"We are very concerned about the current situation in Ukraine and would like to express our deepest condolences to all the victims. We hope that the world will return to peace and security as soon as possible," Panasonic said in a statement.