MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Germany's Siemens is set to lay off some 2,500 staff as it undergoes restructuring, the company said on Wednesday.
"Increasing competitive intensity in the oil and gas, metals and mining sectors has made a realignment of capacities at Siemens' Process Industries and Drives (PD) Division necessary. A total of about 2,500 jobs worldwide – of which 2,000 are in Germany, primarily in Bavaria – will be affected by the realignment," Siemens said in a press release.
Siemens, which is Germany's and Europe's largest engineering company employing over 300,000 people worldwide, has been undergoing various restructuring programs and facing layoffs amid a drive to increase profitability by the new CEO Joe Kaeser.
Battered by the ongoing glut in global energy prices, Siemens' once profitable power and gas unit has faced overcapacity as demand for its gas turbines fell.
"Plunging demand in raw materials markets has led to a significant intensification of competition, particularly in Asia. To guarantee our competitiveness, we've got to adapt to these conditions," CEO of Siemens' Process Industries and Drives Division Jürgen Brandes was quoted in the press release as saying.
The company will therefore optimize and reduce its manufacturing operations, as well as boosting competitiveness, he added.
Commodity prices have been declining since mid-2014, falling some 30 percent throughout 2015. Losses extended into December, with plummeting oil prices driving a 7-percent fall, according to International Monetary Fund figures. Since January, recovering oil prices drove commodity prices up several percent.
