Toyota to resume some production, Honda suspended

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Toyota on Thursday said it would resume production of its Prius and some Lexus hybrid models because it now expects to be able to procure parts by then and wants to prioritise output of models with higher demand.

But Honda said it would suspend auto production until April 3 at two domestic plants amid parts shortages due to disruption caused by the impact of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami, and also a limited power supply.

The company, however, will resume production of motorcycle and power products at its Kumamoto plant from Monday.

Toyota on Wednesday said it was likely to slow production at some US plants due to a shortage of parts from quake-hit Japan.

The world's largest automaker had earlier delayed plans to restart car production, with supply chains crippled by the biggest earthquake ever recorded in Japan and the raging 10 metre tsunami it generated.

Around 26,000 people are confirmed dead or listed as missing in Japan following the disaster.

Economists are reviewing daily their increasingly bleak forecasts for an economy that has seen infrastructure along the northeast coast shattered, while power outages hit the Tokyo region. Firms have closed plants, hitting output.

Exports of key components and equipment used in the assembly of goods abroad, such as silicon wafers, liquid-crystal displays and electric machinery, have also been hit, last week sending shockwaves across global markets.

Japan on Wednesday said the cost of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami could hit 25 trillion yen ($309 billion), more than double the 1995 Kobe earthquake and nearly four times more than Hurricane Katrina.

The estimate does not account for wider issues such as how radiation from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant crippled by the quake will affect food and water supply, amid a deepening food scare and unresolved atomic crisis.

Economists expect the economy to contract again in the January-March quarter, plunging Japan into a temporary recession following a decline in October-December. Growth in fiscal 2011 is expected to be near zero.

Credit Agricole chief Japan economist Susumu Kato expects Japan to "fall into a temporal recession," forecasting a 0.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter contraction in real GDP in the January-March period and a 1.2 per cent contraction in April-June.