ENKA to close down Ede Plant

Ede, the Netherlands - ENKA bv announced today to the Works Council, trade unions and employees its plans to close down the viscose yarn plant in Ede. Negotiations will start as soon as possible with the trade unions about a social plan for the approximately 500 employees involved.



Since the summer of 2001, market demand for viscose textile filament yarn has decreased steadily, reducing significantly after September 2001. The cause of the decline is the general economic slowdown and the reduced demand in the high quality fashion segments which ENKA supplies. This has led to both volume and price reductions affecting ENKA.



The expected market recovery has failed to materialise and the losses suffered by ENKA bv cannot be sustained. Under the circumstances the closure of the Ede plant is unfortunately inevitable. ENKA produces viscose filament yarn for textile applications in the Netherlands, Germany and Poland.



ENKA bv is a subsidiary of Acordis, a multinational group of businesses, supplying customers throughout the world with man-made fibres and speciality materials for industrial, textile, medical and hygiene applications.