Daewoo plant to close in the North citing cheap imports

A South Korean-owned electronics company in the North is to close with the loss of around 80 jobs, it announced today.

Ironically Daewoo Electronics blamed cheap imports from Asia and Eastern Europe for its demise.

The company said it would close next month despite a three-year effort to save the plant in Antrim.

A statement said it was with deep regret that it was unable to sustain employment and would terminate manufacturing operations on April 30.

It added: “Our sales demand has severely reduced within the European market due to the impact of increased competition from the newly joined EU and South East Asian countries where labour costs are significantly lower.

“Consequently, as a local manufacturer we cannot survive against our competitors even though we have continuously attempted to remain competitive by developing new products, increasing our operational efficiencies and retaining our highly skilled employees.”

The company acknowledged the impact the job losses would have on the local community, but said that with regret it had no other option but to close down.

Opened for business in 1989, Daewoo was once a major work provider, with 1,000 employees making TVs and video recorders.

With the demise of the video, a switch to producing set top boxes and DVDs was made but failed to stop a gradual decline in employment.

Last summer more than 200 jobs went, leaving the current workforce facing what they believed, correctly, to be a bleak employment future.

The Amicus union said the announcement came as no surprise.

A spokesman said: “When the 200 jobs went last year we indicated that we believed the writing was on the wall and that it was only a matter of time before the remaining workers lost their jobs. Unfortunately that has happened today.”