Soaring coronavirus infections in Vietnam and Thailand hit Toyota production

July 28, 2021 | 09:12

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The spike in coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia including Thailand and Vietnam has hit Toyota Motor Corporation.

Soaring coronavirus infections in Vietnam and Thailand hit Toyota production

Toyota is seeing Southeast Asian production paralysed by the coronavirus pandemic

According to newswire NHK World-Japan, the outbreak of COVID-19 in Vietnam is affecting Toyota's output in Japan to the point that Toyota Auto Body has to halt a production line at its plant in central Japan for five days from Thursday due to parts shortages.

Specifically, the Japanese plant sources components from Vietnam but the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting its parts production in the country.

Toyota also ceased production in Thailand after local suppliers stopped making parts due to surging infections.

The automaker says it closed down operations at its three assembly plants near Bangkok in the past week. The three plants are Toyota's key factories in Southeast Asia. They can produce a total of about 750,000 passenger cars and commercial vehicles annually. Toyota says it will monitor developments and decide whether it can restart assembly.

BesidesToyota, Nidec Sankyo Vietnam was the first Japanese company to close after detecting a virus cluster in the factory at Saigon High-tech Park. Currently, the company is operating at less than 10 per cent of its normal capacity due to some infections at its factory.

In the first seven months of 2021, Japan was the second-largest foreign investor in Vietnam with the total investment capital of $2.54 billion, trailing behind Singapore with $6 billion.

By Thanh Van

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