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Honda Vietnam to get extra parts in October-report

HANOI, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Honda Vietnam Co, a unit of the world's largest motorcycle maker Honda Motor Co Ltd , could reopen its assembly line as soon as next month when it gets extra import quotas, state-run media reported on Wednesday.

Motorcycle makers would see a reallocation of imported component quotas to raise Honda's ceiling, and this "would be carried out in October at the earliest", Ngo Anh Dung, head of the Trade Ministry's investment department, was quoted by the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper as saying.

Production at Honda Vietnam, the biggest foreign motorbike assembler in Vietnam, has been temporarily shut down since last Wednesday after the government announced a ceiling on the import of motorcycle parts.

Honda has not said when it will resume output.

The Trade Ministry slapped on a motorcycle parts quota for 2002 of 1.5 million sets, down from 1.8 million in 2001. Of those, 600,000 sets are reserved for seven foreign invested producers and the balance for 55 local firms.

That move has not only affected Honda Vietnam's operation, but also threatened to idle output of Vietnam-based units of Yamaha and Suzuki .

Honda was imposed a limit of 280,000 on imports of motorcycle component sets in 2002 but has already built 281,629 motorcycles this year and is seeking permission to import another 306,000 component sets to meet rising demand.

Suzuki Motor Corp has said it may be forced to suspend output of motorcycles in November and December if the curbs aren't eased. Suzuki aimed to produce 50,000 units this year but its quota was just 35,000.

Yamaha may be the next to issue a warning since it plans for 80,000 units in Vietnam in 2002 but has been allocated a quota of just 50,000.

Vietnam, with a population of around 80 million, has more than nine million motorcycles in use.