Celanese sees 2000 job cuts by end of 2000

20 March 2000 17:15  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--German chemicals group Celanese said Monday it expects its restructuring to lead to about 2000 job cuts, mainly in North America, by the end of the year.

A spokesman said the revised estimate includes the 1000 job cuts announced last October plus the extra cuts resulting from the Drummondville, Canada and Calaya, Mexico closures and the acetate products restructuring. Celanese currently employs about 16 500 people, of which nearly 10 000 are located in North America.

Most of the 2000 employees will leave the company this year by mutual, fair agreement, said Celanese chief executive officer Claudio Sonder, who was speaking at the 1999 financial results conference. About 700 jobs have already been cut.

The cost reduction programmes, which were launched last year, are expected to lead to annual savings of over Euro100m ($97m), stated Sonder.

In addition to the streamlining of production, Celanese plans to reduce the number of administration sites, he said. No details of which sites were under threat or the timing of any closures were disclosed.

"Most of the restructuring is now behind us," Sonder said. "We will not, however, rule out further restructuring in order to safeguard our cost leadership."

By: Anna Jagger
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