Supply concerns grow as Japan lacks parts, power

By Robert Hetz and Gilles Guillaume

MADRID/PARIS | Fri Mar 18, 2011 9:50am EDT

MADRID/PARIS (Reuters) - From Apple Inc's new iPad to Chevrolet pick-ups, concern is spreading down the global manufacturing supply chain about the impact of Japan's earthquake last week.

Plant shutdowns across Japan following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis threaten supplies of everything from semiconductors to car parts for manufacturers across the globe.

Even where factories in Japan are operating, power outages, shortages of fuel and raw materials and ruptured logistics mean products and parts face delays in getting to customers.

Honda Motor Co said on Friday it had extended a production halt in Japan, where it makes over a fifth of its cars, for another three days to next Wednesday.

And in a sign that the European manufacturers are also starting to feel the squeeze, carmakers Renault and Opel warned they would have to reduce production.

Opel, the European arm of General Motors, called a 24-hour production stop for next Monday and an eight-hour halt next Friday at its plant in Saragossa, Spain, due to the lack of an electronic item which had not arrived from Japan. Unions say about 2,400 cars will not be made during the stoppage.

Renault said it would cut output at its factory in Busan, South Korea, by 15 to 20 percent after disruptions to Japanese supplies mainly affecting the Renault-owned Samsung SM7. The factory normally produces 20,000 vehicles per month.

"Production should go down by 15 to 20 percent, corresponding to 3,000 fewer cars," said a Renault spokesman. "We hope a solution will be found rapidly."

PARTS SHORTAGE

Japan's grip on the global electronics supply chain is causing particular concern. The world's third-biggest economy exported 7.2 trillion yen ($91.3 billion) worth of electronic parts last year, according to Mirae Asset Securities.

"Should the Japan crisis be prolonged, I expect a shortage of electronic parts in the second quarter," said James Song, an analyst at Daewoo Securities, noting Japan provides 57 percent of the world's wafers, used to make the chips that go into mobiles phones, cameras and other electronic devices.

Apple may face shortages of key parts for its newly released iPad 2, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.

Several parts of the new version of the popular iPad tablet PC come from Japan, including the battery and the flash memory used to store music and video on the device.

Toshiba Corp, one of the companies that produces the NAND flash memory used in the iPad 2, according to IHS iSuppli's research, briefly shut a flash memory facility in Japan and warned it could face problems getting raw materials.

Memory chip industry tracker DRAMeXchange said it had seen a panic surge in NAND flash spot prices and a 5 to 15 percent rise in the contract average selling price. It said it expected the earthquake to cut global NAND flash supply by up to 4 percent in the second quarter, in terms of the amount of memory available.

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