BRICK maker Dyson Refractories will cease production tomorrow with the loss of about 50 jobs.
The company announced three months ago that it was to close its County Durham factory, blaming overseas competition, rising energy prices and a drop in orders.
About 35 jobs will go on Friday when production at the site in West Hunwick, near Bishop Auckland, comes to an end.
The remaining 15 employees will gradually leave over the coming weeks after all orders have been released.
A unit at West Hunwick, which produces nozzles, has not been affected by the closure.
Bosses at Dyson, which manufactures bricks for the steel industry used to line kilns, said a small number of jobs had been transferred on site.
Managing director John Casewell said yesterday: "There are a number of reasons for this, but it is mainly a lack of volume as well as competition."
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.
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