Sanyo microwave factories are threatened with closure, with the loss of almost 300 jobs, it was announced today.
Japanese electronics giant Sanyo said it would be consulting its workforce on the possible closure of the plant at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.
Another Sanyo site, at Thornaby where 31 people work, is also threatened with closure.
The company said world prices for microwave ovens had fallen substantially in recent years because of increased competition from South Korea and China, where staff costs were a ''fraction'' of those in the UK.
Exchange rate variability had also adversely affected Sanyo's UK production of microwaves.
David Simpson, general manager of Sanyo Electric Manufacturing, said: ''It is a sad day as we move into consultation over possible closure of our factories in Newton Aycliffe and Thornaby-on-Tees.''
The company said it would try to minimise the effect of any redundancies and explore alternative uses for the two factories, which opened in 1988.
Read a full report on this story in Saturday's edition of The Northern Echo.
Updated:13.05 Friday, June 29
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