Toyota: Production will not resume at Japanese factories next week

In another instance of the unfortunate luck its had, Japan was hit by another earthquake on Thursday. Businesses in the country - still reeling from the destruction caused by the early March 9.0-magnitude earthquake and follow-up tsunami - are starting to resume production. Toyota Motor announced this week it will not restart production at most of its Japanese plants next week.

The world's biggest automaker shuttered all but two of its 18 factories in the country following the devastation from the March 11 natural disasters. Other companies have experienced delays and supplier disruptions as a majority of the country's businesses were forced to either close plants or slow down production.

"There will be no resumption of production at most of our domestic factories next week," a Toyota spokesperson said in a statement. As of April 1, Toyota has lost potential production of roughly 200,000 vehicles. The world's largest manufacturer of automobiles does not know when production will be resumed, but as power outages were reported throughout the country on Thursday, some analysts assert it could take weeks.

The ongoing problems could also hurt Toyota's credit rating: Ratings agency Moody's has put the company's credit rating under review for a possible downgrade because of the holes in its supply chain.