"Reuters" and the Irish media report Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) will relocate 315 jobs from its plant in Ireland to cheaper locates in Israel or Eastern Europe, due to Ireland's "prohibitively" high costs.
Teva's effort to cut costs indicates that Ireland still has to reduce its labor costs to again be considered competitive.
"Reuters" notes that the relocation is a blow for Ireland's recovery hopes, since pharmaceutical exports had boosted Irish exports this year, raising optimism that Ireland will emerge from one of the deepest recessions in the developed world.
Teva Ireland managing director Tom McCabe said that production of products made in Ireland "will be transferred to a low-cost economy and the locations available are in Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia and even in Israel."
Teva is cutting jobs from its plant in Waterford, which is already reeling after luxury tableware maker Waterford Wedgwood went into receivership in January.
Teva's share closed $51.16 on Nasdaq on Friday. The share rose 0.2% in morning trading on the TASE today to NIS 193.30.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 6, 2009
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