KIEV, May 18 - Honda Ukraine, the official distributor of Honda cars, motorcycles and power equipment in Ukraine, has reduced its estimate of car sales in the country by 27% due to the cut in production at Japanese plants hit by March's earthquake and tsunami.

"The earthquake in Japan affected the work of Honda plants around the world. Now the plants are 50% loaded, which is due to interruptions in the supply of components, most of which were previously ordered from Japanese contracting companies that are now recovering from the tragedy," reads a company statement.