TOKYO (Reuters) -Nissan Motor Co’s first-quarter operating profit fell 14% to 64.9 billion yen ($478.08 million), the Japanese carmaker said on Thursday, citing surging raw material costs and production disruption from COVID-19 lockdowns.
Earnings for the three months to June 30 beat an average estimate of 45.8 billion yen from 11 analysts, Refinitiv data shows.
The company stuck to its full-year operating forecast of 250 billion yen for the year to March 31.
Nissan, like other automakers, has struggled with a global shortage of semiconductor chips, and warned that it expects raw material and logistics costs to increase by about 1.5 times this fiscal year, which ends in March 2023.
Nissan said its global vehicle production was down 26.5% for April, blaming the semiconductor shortage. Global production went up in May by 1.7% on the year, in its first increase since June last year, but then fell 0.8% in June.
The auto part supply and logistics problems have led the automaker to temporarily suspend orders of the electric Ariya B6 and the new Fairlady Z sports car for domestic customers as of the end of the month.
($1=135.7500 yen)
(Reporting by Satoshi SugiyamaEditing by David Goodman; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
