The world's biggest carmaker has announced it will have a drastic cut in production at its factories in Japan and overseas as it continues to face a shortfall in supply of parts after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan.

Toyota Motors said cuts will last at least until the end of the year and will likely return to normal levels only by November or December.

The company said that production at its Japanese factories is likely to begin its recovery process by July, while its global operations will start to pick up speed by August.

Toyota officials said that its manufacturing facilities in Japan will drop production by 50% and would stop production all together between the dates of April 28 to May 9.

While it has restarted production at its Japanese plants, units have not been running at full capacity due to shortfall in the supply of parts coupled with a shortage of electricity.

In China, the company plans a 30% to 50% production from Thursday through June 3.

Early last week, Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA), had said it would suspend production on Mondays and Fridays between April 15 and April 25 and will continue through June 3..

"During the same period, production will run at 50% on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday," the TEMA statement said.

In addition, Canadian production will be suspended for the week beginning May 23, and U.S. production for the week starting May 30. No decisions have been made for production after June 3, according to Toyota Motor Corp.

Steve St. Angelo, executive vice president of TEMA said, "No layoffs are planned during this period, we are trying to keep our work force intact. Team members will utilize nonproduction time for training and plant improvement activities."

Toyota employs 25,000 workers in North America. It operates nine plants in the United States - Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia, California and Mississippi. It also operates three plants in Canada and one in Mexico. #30