Turkey’s Arcelik, the parent company of Beko, plans to cut nearly 2,000 jobs in Italy, reducing its workforce in the country by almost half, according to trade unions. During a meeting hosted by Italy’s industry ministry, the company announced 1,935 redundancies out of a total of 4,440 employees.

Beko Europe confirmed the job cuts, citing financial underperformance in its Italian operations due to increased competition from Asian companies and weakened demand. The company stated that factory utilisation rates were below 40%, making them unsustainable. To address this, Beko plans to invest 110 million euros ($116 million) to restructure its operations in Italy and establish a sustainable long-term presence.

However, Italy’s industry ministry deemed the plan unacceptable and stated that the government would use all available means to try to protect jobs.