THE SECOND biggest producer of TV sets in Slovakia, Foxconn in Nitra, has announced it is dismissing up to 600 employees. The Hospodárske Noviny daily reported the company attributed its action to a decline in demand from its main customer, Sony.
“We are forced to adjust the current employment level,” said Foxconn spokesperson Helena Windisch, as quoted by the daily.
The Taiwanese company bought its factory in Nitra from Sony in 2010 and inherited with it a state subsidy of Sk1.2 billion (approximately €40 million), originally provided by the government of Robert Fico.
Sony had promised to create up to 1,500 jobs over five years. Economy Ministry spokesperson Daniela Piršelová said that if Foxconn does not fulfil this promise it could lose the subsidy, the Sme daily reported.
Foxconn had originally planned to increase production by 50 percent and hire new employees, Windisch told Hospodárske Noviny in early January 2011. But the situation changed and in the second half of 2011 production of TV sets dropped not only in Slovakia but also in international markets. The lack of orders prompted Foxconn to change its production plans, Windisch said.
Industry analysts told Hospodárske Noviny that the situation in the electro-technical industry is not expected to improve this year but they also noted that the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London and the 2012 European Football Championship to be held in Poland and Ukraine might temporarily increase the sale of TVs.
