Pakistan’s Honda Atlas extends longest production shutdown to end April

By Ariba Shahid

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) -Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Ltd on Thursday announced a 15-day extension to its longest plant shutdown this fiscal year, citing the country’s economic crisis, restrictions on opening letters of credit for imports, and halting foreign payments.

The company announced an initial 23-day shutdown on March 8, which was expected to end on March 31. It then extended the shutdown to April 15.

Honda says the government’s stringent measures to deal with Pakistan’s economic situation have “severely disrupted” the company’s supply chain.

In a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the company, a unit of Japan’s Honda Motor Co Ltd said: “As a result, the Company is not in a position to continue with its production and ultimately has continued to shut down its plant from April 16, 2023 to April 30, 2023.”

Other listed automakers in the country, such as Indus Motor Company Limited and Pak Suzuki Motor Company, have also been forced to halt production during the last fiscal year due to Pakistan’s economic difficulties, which have seen central bank foreign exchange reserves drop to a level barely able to cover a month’s imports.

Also on Thursday, Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (PSMC), a unit of Japan’s Suzuki, announced a 13-day extension to an existing halt in its production of motorcycles.

On March 16, it announced an 11-day plant shutdown for its motorcycle plant, citing a shortage of inventory. It later extended the shutdown by 15 days to April 15.

PSMC shut down automobile production for a week from April 7 to April 23 for the same reasons.

(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Kim Coghill)