Sony and Panasonic have warned of the continuing blow to sales as a result of the damage caused by Japan’s March earthquake and tsunami.

Sony said yesterday that the impact of the earthquake on sales is estimated to be £166m (22bn yen), while the cost of repairing the factories that were damaged during the disaster is expected to run to £83m (11bn yen).

“The earthquake and tsunami did major damage to our supply chain and created the risk of lasting electricity shortages,” chief financial officer Masaru Kato was reported as saying.

The president of Panasonic, Fumio Ohtsubo, also cited problems with supply chains that have resulted in a shortage of parts and raw materials. He said he expects the current financial year to be “very tough”.

He said that while operations have resumed at the company’s factories their output has not returned to prequake levels.

Last week, Sony said supply levels of monitors and professional camcorders had returned to normal, while the factory where HDCam SR tape is manufactured is expected to resume operations in May.