A CHEMICAL works in Huddersfield is set to close with the loss of 85 jobs.
Indian-owned Piramal Healthcare Ltd has launched a 30-day consultation period with employees at the plant at Deighton.
Mumbai-based Piramal said it was transferring production from Huddersfield to other sites in the UK and India as part of cost-cutting efforts.
The Huddersfield works, which shares the Syngenta site at Leeds Road, achieved revenues of £19m in the last financial year.
But the owners claimed a decline in large-scale orders over recent months had made the site unprofitable.
The Huddersfield works makes chemicals in small batches for use in clinical trials to develop life-saving drugs.
Piramal also carries out large-scale production of chemicals used in established pharmaceutical products to treat conditions such as glaucoma, HIV and cancer.
The closure decision comes just months after the Huddersfield works was shortlisted in the Innovator 09 Awards recognising the top 18 most innovative businesses in Yorkshire.
Piramal is one of India’s largest pharmaceutical companies and is ranked in the top 10 companies in the country.
It is also one of the world’s largest custom manufacturing companies with sites across North America, Europe and Asia.
The Huddersfield works was part of the sprawling ICI manufacturing site before being transferred to Avecia from ICI successors Zeneca Specialities in 1999. Primala Healthcare bought the business in December, 2005.
A statement said 85 jobs were at risk with the closure, although the company hoped some posts could be transferred to other sites.
Workers would also be given support to help them find alternative employment – together with “generous” severance terms consistent with established standards for the UK pharmaceutical industry.
It said production and staffing to complete orders-in-hand at Huddersfield would continue over several months. The plant will close before the end of this year.
Piramal said: “Demand at Huddersfield has fallen sharply as a result of de-stocking and sourcing changes by key customers that formerly contributed 70% of its income.
“Major pharma companies have been responding to market challenges by moving intermediates sourcing to India, as part of a wider re-balancing of production needs.”
Piramal has its Indian plants had become busier while the same tend had brought more work to its main UK site at Morpeth, Northumberland.
