(Yicai Global) April 26 -- Great Wall Motors has dismissed reports that claim the Chinese automaker will halt production at two factories because of a shortfall in semiconductors used in its vehicles. The company’s shares fell.

A shortage of chips is affecting its plants in Yongchuan and Xushui in the southwestern city of Chongqing to some extent, but neither will halt production, the Baoding-based company said in a statement yesterday. Those two plants make popular Great Wall models such as the Havel H6, Poer, and Tank 300.

According to recent self-media reports, the short supply of chips has caused production bottlenecks at Great Wall, with the two factories scheduled to suspend output next month and June.

Great Wall said it is taking a variety of measures to ease the impact of the chip shortage, including global procurement and strengthening supply chain management.

The carmaker’s shares [SHA: 601633] closed 1.4 percent lower today at CNY33.24 (USD5.12), after earlier dropping as much as 2.1 percent. The broader Shanghai Composite Index fell almost 1 percent.

Great Wall swung back into the black in the first half of this year. Net profit was CNY1.6 billion (USD247 million) in the three months ended March 31, compared with a loss of CNY650 million (USD100 million) a year earlier. Revenue jumped 151 percent to CNY31.1 billion (USD4.8 billion).

The company also sold 339,000 vehicles in the first quarter, a 125 percent increase.

Editor: Peter Thomas