Production shutdown

Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM), Honda (T:7267) Motor (NYSE:HMC) and Samsung (KS:005930) Electronics (LON:0593xq) said production problems as bad weather, blocked ports and the ongoing impact of Covid-19 disrupt global supply chains, The Wall Street Journal wrote.

Toyota and Honda said on Wednesday they would halt production at plants in North America due to shortages of critical materials, including plastic components, petrochemical products and semiconductors. Honda also cited port failures and severe winter weather that caused plants and pipes across the central US to freeze.

Earlier, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was forced to temporarily shut down its plant in Fremont, California due to shortages of semiconductors and other components. The Model 3 production line was idle from February 22 to March 7.

Toyota announced back in January that it would cut production of cars. Then, Ford Motor (NYSE:F), Fiat Chrysler (MI:STLA) and Nissan (T:7201) were also forced to cut production because of a shortage of semiconductors, for which demand began to rise as the pandemic situation improved.

Meanwhile, Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, said on Wednesday that a severe global chip shortage would hurt its business next quarter. The South Korean company also said it may refrain from launching a new model of one of its most popular phones, though rather to ensure the new model does not compete with its current ones.

One analyst said: "Initially, automotive companies had to bear the brunt of the semiconductor shortage, but the problem has now spread to almost all parts of the consumer electronics sector".