Reuters reported that Hitachi Cable Limited will withdraw from domestic production and sales of copper pipes at the end of March.

As per report, it will sell production equipment at an Ibaraki Prefecture plant to Sumitomo Light Metal Industries Limited and about 150 employees there will be reassigned in house or loaned to other firms. It will take a related extraordinary charge of roughly JPY 500 million in the year through March.

Hitachi Cable will also implement an early retirement program which will run from November 1st to December 31st 2011 targeting domestic group employees aged 35 and above.

The extraordinary charge tied to the move including sweeteners for severance packages will come to about JPY 7 billion. With the Japanese market slumping, the company has been in the red since fiscal 2008.

The company ranks No 3 in copper pipes in Japan, producing 19,800 tonnes a year and generating JPY 17.7 billion in sales for the year ended March. As for its overseas copper pipe JV in China and Thailand the firm will address the matter with its partners.

(Sourced from Reuters)