IT has been confirmed that a factory will close in two months with the loss of about 50 jobs because of overseas competition and rising energy prices.

Workers at Dyson Refractories, in West Hunwick, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, are completing production on final orders before the factory closes in March.

Bosses at Dyson, which manufactures bricks for the steel industry used to line kilns, are meeting union officials today to discuss the closure and redundancies.

Talking to The Northern Echo in November, Dyson's managing director John Casewell blamed a fall in orders, soaring energy prices and intense overseas competition for the company's demise.

He said: "Steel is our biggest business and they are taking more and more exotic types of materials, which they are buying from places like China. China may not be able to compete with the cheaper stuff, but they can make more exotic materials."

Yesterday, Mr Casewell said no date had been fixed for the closure, but said it was likely to be early in March.

The Amicus union, which represents the majority of the workers, was yesterday unavailable for comment.

A unit at West Hunwick, which produces nozzles, is not affected by the closure.

Dyson Refractories, which is a division of the Dyson Group, is the largest independent refractory brick maker in the UK, with a main site in Sheffield.

It closed its brickworks at Crook, County Durham, in December 1983, with the loss of more than 100 jobs.

Dyson is the latest in a number of companies making redundancies and facing closure across the region.

SCA Packaging announced in November that it would be closing one of its Darlington plants, with the loss of 175 jobs, while Elementis Chromium, in Eaglescliffe, Teesside, is to make 120 job cuts next month.

In December, the Eliza Tinsley Group, in Evenwood, near Bishop Auckland, revealed it was making 62 workers redundant, while family haulage firm Dunns Shildon Limited went into administration in November with the loss of 30 jobs.