TYPHOON CHABA HEADS TOWARDS HOKKAIDO

Typhoon Chaba has left at least nine dead and more than 200 injured as it heads towards Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. More than 500,000 homes were without electricity and tens of thousands were evacuated as the typhoon hit south-west Japan this morning local time. The country’s major airlines cancelled more than 600 flights yesterday and 152 so far today. Mazda Motors closed their factory yesterday but resumed operations today. All shipments at Sendai oil refinery were halted for a day, while sea deliveries were on hold at Muroran refinery and the Neigishi plant near Tokyo, affecting 675,000 barrels in total.