China clay firm to shed 42 jobs

China clay is used in paper whitening

China clay company Imerys is shedding 42 jobs in Cornwall.

The firm, which employs more than 1,200 people in Devon and Cornwall, said a further 13 positions will also be transferred to an external company.

The jobs going are skilled ones in marketing, sales, technology and engineering in the paper pigments side of the business in St Austell.

Spokesman Ivor Bowditch told BBC News it was a "very sad day", but the firm was facing "really tough" conditions.

The paper industry is a large consumer of china clay for whitening.

Mr Bowditch said: "It's part of a cycle of very difficult market conditions we have been fighting for the past two years.

"The world problems in terms of trade in Europe and North America have really caught up with us and we have to trim some overheads."

Two years ago the firm made a total of 500 people redundant amid competition from abroad.

The company is the world's largest producer of china clay, operating in 250 locations in 43 countries.

The china clay industry in Cornwall was started 260 years ago by English China Clays, which was taken over by Imerys in 1999 for £756m.