Japan's Oji Holdings is planning to reduce its workforce by
10% come March 2016, and may follow this with the closure of some paper and
board machines.
The move is part of a scheme to restructure the business
further and focus on the Indian and Southeast Asian markets.
The staff cuts will mean some 2,000 job losses from the
current workforce of around 20,000.
Oji said it has already closed, or announced plans to shut,
14 printing and writing paper machines, a board unit and two specialty paper
machines since 2008, although it did not specify how much capacity this removed
from the market.
As part of its strategy to expand in India, Oji recently
agreed to form a joint venture with the local firm JK Paper and another
Japanese outfit Marubeni.
The jv will build a corrugated packaging plant in Neemrana,
Rajasthan state, for startup in January 2014.
