Honda halts production at Malaysia

Japanese carmaker Honda temporarily halted production at its plant in Malaysia due to parts shortage caused by the flood disaster in Thailand. "We apologize for the delay of delivery... we are doing all that we can within our capacity to recover the production here in Malaysia as soon as possible," Honda Malaysia's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Yoichiro Ueno said in a statement on Tuesday. "Honda Malaysia is currently studying the feasibility of sourcing parts from other countries until its suppliers' production in Thailand returns to normal," the statement read. The announcement came as two major Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda two weeks ago suspended production in Thailand which reportedly account for about seven percent of their combined global car production, as the flood situation there deteriorated. Widespread floods inflicted by heavy monsoon rains and tropical storms had affected 62 provinces, about four-fifth of the country since July. 366 people have died while 9.4 million people suffered from the flood. Ten thousand factories remained inundated as recent assessment of the economic damage was estimated at around 13 billion U.S. dollars and more, if Bangkok is swamped.