May 30 (Reuters) - Howmet Aerospace ( HWM ) will need to

produce more parts this year for engines used in Boeing ( BA ) and

Airbus narrowbody jets, as the planemakers ramp up output and

the need for spares grows, the parts supplier's CEO John Plant

said on Friday.

Plant's comments come a day after Boeing ( BA ) expressed

optimism about increasing the production of the best-selling 737

MAX jets to 42 a month. The move could benefit players such as

Howmet, one of Boeing's ( BA ) biggest suppliers.

However, supply chain challenges continue to weigh on the

industry as Boeing ( BA ) and Airbus manufacture more jets, with no one

particular bottleneck to blame.

Howmet also expects demand for its fasteners to rise, with

global inventory running low after a fire at an SPS Technologies

factory in Pennsylvania in February destroyed an important

source of capacity.

"There's lots more to bid and we've got three customers

already where we have production orders for as soon as we can

make them," Plant said at a Bernstein conference.

He also acknowledged a force majeure letter on tariffs sent

to customers in April, which was first reported by Reuters.

Plant said the letter helped get new agreements in place to

cover exposure risk in case of an emergency.