Toyota and Honda plants in Malaysia stayed shut in mid-July. Lockdown there began on June 1.
Kyodo reported that the lockdown has been extended twice, and that tighter restrictions have applied since July 5 in the capital region, where most Japanese companies in the country are based.
Mitsui Mining & Smelting, which makes smartphone materials in Malaysia, announced a production halt on July 5. The government has since let the electronics industry go back to work. Still, a company press representative said output would not return to earlier levels until sometime between late July and early August.
Indonesia and Thailand
Indonesia is also hurting Japanese firms. Daily new infections there topped 40,000 on July 12. A survey by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) found many manufacturers complaining about the rise in cases and the effect on operations. One company said 18 percent of its workforce was infected.
Movement restrictions are keeping many Japanese companies in Indonesia from running at full capacity. Several are weighing whether to send their Japanese expatriates home.
Thailand is a linchpin of Japanese production networks in the region. A curfew has applied in the Bangkok area since July 12, though it has not yet come with strong restrictions on business operations.
Forecasting a year out
An official at a Japanese automaker in Southeast Asia said a one-year forecast is hard to make while vaccine rollouts remain slow in the region. In his view the pandemic differs from a natural disaster in two ways: it affects supply chains for a long time, and it hits several areas at once.
Kitami, a researcher at JETRO Bangkok, said Japanese companies are doing their best. “There is a possibility that if infections continue to spread in other countries, regulations as strong as Malaysia’s could be adopted there,” he said, adding that this could sap the appetite for investment.
Sources
Sources
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