Munich Re has revealed it will not achieve its 2011 profit target as figures of the industry’s losses from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami begin to trickle through.

Munich Re estimates its exposure to Japan, after retrocession and before tax, will be €1.5 billion ($2.1 billion).

Swiss Re’s exposure to Japan is markedly less, with the reinsurer estimating claims costs of $US1.2 billion ($1.2 billion), net of retrocession and before tax.

With the addition of its Australian and NZ catastrophe exposures, Munich Re is already facing claims of more than €2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) this financial year and as a result the company says its profit target of around €2.4 billion ($3.3 billion) for 2011 is “no longer achievable”.

Last week, Munich Re told insuranceNEWS.com.au it will also fail to reach its profit target for Australia and NZ for 2011.

It says a degree of uncertainty still surrounds its Japanese exposures, which are mainly for covers from commercial business.

“As many reinsurance covers do not attach until very high losses have been sustained by individual cedants, it will only become apparent at a later stage whether and to what extent reinsurers are affected by losses under particular treaties,” the company said in a statement. “Further uncertainties result from the impact on international flows of goods and supply chains from business interruptions suffered by Japanese industrial producers.”

At this stage Swiss Re has not indicated the impact of the catastrophes on its year-end bottom line.

Hannover Re has estimated its losses will be in the order of €250 million ($347 million), after retrocessions and before taxes, while Scor says its maximum exposure is €185 million ($257 million) before tax, but its final total loss “should be lower than this maximum amount”.

Several smaller reinsurers are yet to release Japanese loss estimates but Platinum Underwriters, Renaissance Re and Flagstone Re have all confirmed they provide reinsurance cover for earthquake and tsunami-related risks in Japan.

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