Six major Japanese trading houses will post total losses of about one billion dollars, largely due to the collapse of Japan Airlines.
Two years ago, the carrier issued more than one-and-a-half billion dollars in preferred shares without voting rights in a bid to boost its capital.
The six trading firms bought about 720 million dollars' worth of these shares. But after JAL filed for bankruptcy protection last month, the firms said that they will book them as losses for the current business year.
Mitsui & Company will write off around 220 million dollars, Mitsubishi and Sojitz some 170 million dollars each. Meanwhile, Sumitomo, Itochu, and Marubeni, roughly 56 million dollars each.
Mitsubishi will also report about 270 million dollars in losses related to the cancellation of a jet fuel deal with the airline. Sojitz will post around 24 million dollars in losses following a drop in the stock price of a firm it jointly operates with JAL.

注）この英語ニュースは、NHK国際放送局で２月３日に放送したものです。
現在は、状況や事実関係が異なる場合があります。