Import curbs force Pakistan's Toyota manufacturer to halt production

 

• IMC to observe complete shutdown for a week.
• Production will remain halted from June 3-8.
• Decision came after company officials met PM.

KARACHI: Indus Motor Company Limited (IMC) on Friday announced a temporary closure of its plant for six days due to hurdles in the import of raw materials, The News reported.

The decision came after one day of meeting of the company officials with PM Shehbaz Sharif. Last time, the IMC production plant went on closure for a few days in the previous month.

IMC has decided to completely shut down its production plant from June 3, 2023, to June 8, 2023.

The company secretary of IMC in a statement to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday said: “The company and its vendors continue to face hurdles on import raw materials and receiving clearance of their consignments, on account of challenges in the opening of LCs [letter of credit] and supply issues by certain foreign vendors."

"This has disrupted the supply chain of the company and the vendors are unable to supply raw materials and components to the company," the letter stated.

Accordingly, the secretary added, the company had insufficient inventory levels to maintain production, therefore, was unable to continue its production activities.

Pakistan’s automotive sector as well as other sectors relying on the import of raw materials are having issues with the raw material because of the LC opening issues due to a shortage of foreign exchange reserves in the country.

Indus Motors, Pak Suzuki Motors, and Honda have faced several days of shutdown in recent months due to the unavailability of raw materials. Indus Motors announced the closure one day after meeting with the prime minister in Islamabad.

A delegation from Indus Motor Company, led by Vice Chairman, Shinji Yanagi and Chief Executive, Ali Asghar Jamali, met with PM Sharif on Thursday at the Prime Minister’s Office to showcase the first locally manufactured, Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid Electric Vehicle.

The PM commended Toyota’s initiative in bringing the first locally manufactured Hybrid SUV to Pakistan and emphasised the need to further localisation efforts in the country as well as focus on exports.

He further assured to uphold the incentives for Hybrid Electric Vehicles as outlined in the AIDEP 2021-26 policy.

Federal Minister of Finance Ishaq Dar also appreciated the Corolla Cross Hybrid and the benefits the country would derive from the new technology both economically and environmentally.

IMC has invested $100 million in the local production of hybrid electric vehicles in Pakistan.

The company has contributed towards the establishment of the local automobile in the country, by creating its complete value chain with over 50 part manufacturers making over Rs250 million worth of parts every working day, 53 independently owned authorised dealerships providing after-sales service to customers and employing over 450,000 people directly and indirectly, working across the country.

Engro Fertilizers closes plant

Engro Fertilizers Limited has closed its plant for 26 days but intends to meet the projected demand for the products manufactured at the plant. 

In a statement to Pakistan Stock Exchange Friday, the company secretary of Engro Fertilizers said: “Engro Fertilizers Limited has a plant situated at Port Qasim, which produces speciality fertilisers with an annual capacity of around 150KT."

"By way of this disclosure, the company wishes to announce that the plant will be shut down from June 5, 2023, to June 30, 2023, (both days inclusive) to more efficiently manage its inventory and production."