Car makers and electronics manufacturers are still facing production problems in Japan as the country recovers from the earthquake and tsunami, however it is not expected to have a long-term impact on the price of platinum or palladium.
Large companies including Toyota and Sony closed a number of facilities and now face the task of bringing production back on line in the face of power shortages and the drying-up of parts. Nissan stopped operations at six plants in Japan, while closures of Honda factories led the firm to suspend all orders from US dealers for models built in the country, the news provider reports.
Japan's problems are not only being felt by its own car makers, as US auto giant General Motors (GM) has also indicated that it has been affected. According to Reuters, the firm suspended production in Zaragoza in Spain on Monday (March 21st) and cancelled some shifts at Eisenach, Germany.
Additionally, GM has suspended all non-essential spending and global travel until the full effects of the crisis in Japan are known.Bloomberg reports that Panasonic has closed two plants and does not know when they will reopen.
Meanwhile, Fujitsu and Nikon have suspended operations at ten and four facilities respectively. The Chinese were very aggressive buyers of platinum when the price came off after the quake. The Chinese have picked up any slack on platinum.
No comments:
Post a Comment