“Currently we are strongly required by the authorities to save electricity. The areas around central Tokyo experience a three-hour power cut every day to the end of April.

“The state of emergency could last longer depending on the situation.”

He said that it was too early to give a full picture of the damage to the packaging sector in the worst-hit area in the north-east of Japan, closest to where the massive earthquake struck on Friday 11 March.

However, not all of Japanese industry is badly affected by the disaster – digital mock-up printer maker Roland DG last week said that it was operating as normal following the earthquake.

The confirmed death toll from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami was this morning reported to have reached more than 9,000, with more than 12,000 people still unaccounted for.