Japanese quake continues to haunt Asian firms
Japanese quake continues to haunt Asian firms
SINGAPORE (AFP): Twenty days after a powerful earthquake struck western Japan, repercussions are still being felt by Southeast Asian manufacturers who say they are having trouble getting Japanese parts.
The regional glitch in production, which has especially hit Japanese joint venture automobile plants, could be resolved soon as shipments of supplies from the devastated port of Kobe are already being rerouted through other Japanese ports, officials said.
Nevertheless, Malaysia's state-owned car firm Proton and a Philippine company that assembles Mitsubishi vehicles have had to scale down production.
And Mitsubishi in Thailand says production costs could soar because of the delay in receiving parts from its home base.
In Indonesia, Astra International (AI), which assembles Japanese automobiles, is negotiating with local customs to cut red tape for speedier clearance of imported auto parts.
The Malaysian-based Matsushita Television Co. (M) Sdn. Bhd., the TV export base in Asia for Japanese electronics giant Matsushita, has reportedly postponed marketing of a new model because metal molds are tied up in the warehouse in Kobe, reports in Tokyo say.
Industry sources said other Asian manufacturers who felt little immediate effect from the earthquake, which killed more than 5,100 and caused billions of dollars in damage, might experience supply problems if Japan gave priority to domestic delivery.
"It is too costly to air freight the parts. And delays in shipments will only affect production further," said Mohamed Nadzmi Mohamed Salleh, managing director of Proton.
He said overtime hours have been slashed due to the production cutback. The company's margins could also suffer.
Proton, a local venture with Japanese automaker Mitsubishi, is Malaysia's main car supplier, producing 10,000 units a month. Analysts said there would be a longer waiting time for buyers of Proton cars.
Astra
Indonesia's Astra International, assembling a variety of Japanese cars, said it expected delays in shipments because of heavy congestion in Nagoya, which together with Yokohama and Pusan are helping to ease the enormous bottleneck in Kobe.
To avoid delays, AI said it was negotiating with the Indonesian customs office to speed up customs clearance for auto parts.
Assemblers of Toyota and Nissan cars in the Philippines said they were experiencing slight delays in getting Japanese parts because the customs pre-inspection agency office in Kobe was damaged by the earthquake. That has forced assemblers to get their pre-inspection certificates from the agency's Manila office, which is slower to issue the certificates.
Sources in the Philippine company that assembles Mitsubishi vehicles said delays of one to two months were expected.
M. Ikenobo, a senior official at the Japanese embassy in Singapore, said Southeast Asian manufacturers have to bite the bullet as Tokyo worked to restore normalcy.
"We are pouring immense funds to restore supplies of components and utilities caused by disruption to road, railway and shipping links," he said, adding that long term prospects of Japanese companies in the region was unlikely to suffer from the earthquake.