Film manufacturer Krehalon (Deventer, Netherlands; www.krehalon.com) has received notification from its Japanese shareholders that the company’s site in the Netherlands will be closed by the middle of this year.

A company spokesperson told Plasteurope.com that around 160 employees are affected by the apparently unexpected decision.

On five extrusion lines, they produce barrier shrink film, primarily for the meat processing industry and cheese applications. The co-extrusion of multi-layer films is accompanied by printing and packaging services.

Krehalon is a fully owned subsidiary of Kureha Corporation (Tokyo; www.kureha.co.jp/en), a Japanese speciality chemicals and plastics manufacturer listed on the Tokyo stock exchange with annual sales of JPY 191.3 bn (EUR 1.19 bn) in 2022.

For its Packaging Materials division, Kureha reported declining sales of shrinkable multi-layer films with a polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) barrier layer in the third quarter of 2023/24 (31 March). At JPY 36.5 bn, the sales of its Specialty Plastics business were at the same level as in the same period of the previous year, but profits declined by 5.6%.