KARACHI: Amid auto parts shortage due to restrictions on opening letters of credit for imports, Honda Atlas Cars Ltd (HACL) and Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (PSMCL) on Thursday further extended their plant shutdowns.

In a stock filing, HACL announced a 15-day extension in its plant closure from April 16-30 citing The company said that the government had resorted to stringent measures including curbs on the imports of completely knocked-down kits, raw materials and halting foreign exchange payments. These measures severely disrupted the supply chain mechanism.

After having production activities suspended from March 9-31,

HACL had extended the shutdown further for April 1-15.

Separately, Pak Suzuki through a stock filing on Thursday announced an extension in motorcycle production till April 28 due to a shortage of inventory.

On March 16, PSMCL decided to halt bike production from March 20-31, which was later extended till April 15.

Besides, Indus Motor Company (IMC), the assembler of Toyota vehicles, had also kept its plant inoperative for at least 58 days from August 2022 till the last week of March 27 due to import curbs on raw materials. The company was operating on a single shift from Feb 15.

While facing a massive drop in sales, assemblers were not leaving any chance to jack up vehicles’ prices citing costlier import of parts and accessories on account of the rupee devaluation.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2023