Czech Skoda halts production as floods hit supplier

PRAGUE Aug 11 (Reuters) - Volkswagen's (VOWG.DE) Czech unit Skoda Auto plans to shut production in all three of its plants in the Czech Republic, after weekend floods damaged its key supplier's factory, it said on Wednesday.

The central European state of 10.5 million was hit by a series of flash floods in the north of the country over the weekend that cost hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and killed at least three people.

Grupo Antolin Bohemia, which provides the vehicle maker with car ceiling panels, had its plant flooded in the town of Chrastava, 120 kilometres north from the capital Prague, disrupting deliveries.

Skoda spokesman Jaroslav Cerny said production would be halted as of Thursday in Skoda's Vrchlabi and Mlada Boleslav plants, which produce the Fabia and Octavia models.

An extra shift on Saturday planned in the Kvasiny unit, which produces the Yetti, Roomster and Superb, would also be cancelled, he said. Skoda expects production to resume on Monday at the factories, which make a combined 2,500 cars a day.

He declined to asses costs of the outage or whether Skoda would be able to catch up with production this year.

Skoda is the Czech Republic's second largest company by sales, and cars and car parts production is the backbone of Czech exports, equivalent to nearly 70 percent of the central European country's gross domestic product. (Reporting by Roman Gazdik, writing by Jana Mlcochova; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)