Pak Suzuki Again Extends Plant Shutdown

Pak Suzuki’s miseries don’t seem to be coming to an end since the largest auto assembler in Pakistan has once again announced to extend the plant shutdown. This is the third NPD (non-production days) schedule announced by the company within a span of two weeks.

Since August of last year, the total NPDs observed by Pak Suzuki are already estimated to be around 110 days. In the latest notification sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the company informed that its 2-wheel, as well as 4-wheel plant, will remain shut till 19th of July 2023.

Pak Suzuki once again cited a “continued shortage of inventory levels” as the reason behind the move. This comes as the country continues to battle with depleting foreign reserves, thus the cap on CKD imports has badly hurt the local assemblers including Pak Suzuki. The NPDs have already taken a major hit to the company’s production, sales as well as revenue.

The company also suffered a record Rs 12.9 billion quarterly loss which was Pak Suzuki’s worst financial performance since its inception. Suzuki alerted Shahbaz Sharif to the worrisome status of the auto sector pleading with the PM to take action to rescue the sector from crisis. The letter claims that the current economic and commercial climate is having devastating effects on Pak Suzuki’s dealers and vendors since some of them have already closed and numerous more are on the verge of doing so. However, the government doesn’t seem to be in any position to help the ailing import-dependent auto industry.