Hitachi announces closure of Czech plasma tv plant

The Japanese electronics giant Hitachi has announced it will shut a recently opened Czech plant producing plasma televisions because of falling prices and demand. The plant, employing 800 in the unemployment black spot of Žatec, should shut by the end of March. Hitachi only opened the 85 million dollar plant in 2007. The Czech government has said that the incentives used to attract the Japanese company, such as tax breaks and cheap land, will have to be repaid. The closure is one of the biggest announced in the country since the onset of the world economic crisis.