Japan's auto components manufacturer Kosei Aluminum expects to hike production from June-July after slashing it to 50% following the March 11 earthquake, a company official said Tuesday.
Kosei was forced to cut its April-May output following a shortage of automotive components.
In June-July, Kosei's output will be raised to 60-70% of its planned volume, said Yoshifumi Asahina, general manager of corporate quality control.
Asahina said Kosei expected full recovery in production by November.
Kosei is an aluminum-focused auto parts manufacturer, with a plant at Toyota City and another in Fukui City in central Japan. The company makes wheels and other parts from primary aluminum alloy and ingot.
Kosei's clients include Toyota Motor and its production recovery schedule follows the automaker's plans to ramp up output in the third quarter from the current 50% level.
"Japanese plants in general have excess capacity and have been running under capacity in contrast to overseas plants that were running at full capacity ... Japanese automakers are likely to operate at full capacity in the first quarter of 2012 as domestic car sales are expected to rise, especially before the financial year ends," Asahina said.
Toyota's passenger car production last month had fallen 63.4% year on year to 116,656, and commercial vehicles down 54.6% to 12,835, the automaker said Monday.
Toyota was producing three times more at its recent peak in March 2006 -- 378,603 passenger vehicles and 34,387 commercial vehicles.
Kosei consumes up to 10,000 mt/month of primary aluminum raw materials which are imported via annual supply contracts. Its two plants had been running at around 70% of capacity before the quake, Asahina said.
Another Kosei official in charge of procurement said that there would be no change in its long-term aluminum sourcing plan, which will be renegotiated at the end of the year when the current contract expires.
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