Panasonic Corp. said Thursday it will close an appliance factory in Thailand in March 2021, slashing as many as 800 jobs, as part of efforts to cut costs amid intensifying price competition with Chinese and South Korean rivals.

Panasonic, which has been seeking to reduce costs by 100 billion yen ($929 million) in three years through March 2022, said it will transfer all functions to manufacture washing machines and refrigerators of the Thai plant to Vietnam, where the major Japanese electronics maker has its largest production base for the appliances in Southeast Asia.

Panasonic, which has been producing the appliances since 1979 in Thailand, will also close a research and development center in the country and said it will support the employees to be dismissed to find new jobs.

Panasonic said it will end production of washing machines in September and fridges in October.

In the business year ended March, Panasonic saw a 20.6 percent drop in group net profit from a year earlier to 225.71 billion yen on sales of 7.49 trillion yen, down 6.4 percent.

Hit by weak sales of home appliances and auto electronic parts, it was the first time in three years that the company has reported a fall in group net profit and sales.

With headwinds stemming from the coronavirus pandemic expected to continue for some time, the Osaka-headquartered company will continue with group-wide structural reform.

As part of the reform, it last year decided to close a TV factory in Mexico and withdraw from all output of liquid crystal display panels and semiconductors.

==Kyodo

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