Toyota partially closed by strike

Protesting workers at a Toyota Motor (TM.NYSE, 7203.TYO) factory partially closed down the plant in Tianjin, China, Bloomberg reported. While the plant remained partially open Thursday and Friday, and Toyota’s production in China remains unaffected, Toyota may be forced to follow the lead of its competitor Honda (HMC.NYSE, 7267.TYO), which in May agreed to raise wages 24% to end a worker strike in Guangdong. Further economic development in China’s western regions has also discouraged migration and forced an increase in wages in other factories as the supply of workers decreases. More than 20 Chinese provinces and cities have raised wages in 2010.