The Polimeri factory, based in Devnya, about 30km west of Varna, is poised to release more than 70 employees by the end of February 2010, Dnevnik daily reported on January 6 2010.
"The redundancies will be conducted in several stages. For the moment, we have not received information from other companies due to shed staff," Plamen Nachkov, from the Varna employment office, was quoted as saying.
According to the employment office in Varna, unemployment levels in Bulgaria's sea capital are still being calculated hence it is impossible to deduce "current tendencies or future forecasts," Dnevnik said.
"Whether there is a rise in unemployment in the city or not, is yet to be determined," Nachkov was quoted as saying.
Polimeri is the first plant for production of chlorine and polyvinyl chloride in the country, commissioned in 1962 in the so called valley of chemistry in Devnya.
Its production facilities produced liquid chlorine, caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), hydrochloric acid, chlorine lime, carbide, vinyl chloride, and emulsion polyvinyl chloride. In 1961, Polimeri functioned as a constituent part of the chemical plant in Devnya.
According to the latest statistics from the National Statistics Institute (NSI), as at the beginning of December 2009, unemployment levels in Bulgaria stood at 8.66 per cent, touching the highest level since March 2007. This figure represents a total of 320 758 people nationwide.
Reportedly, unemployment in Bulgaria’s major cities of Sofia, Bourgas, Gabrovo, Varna, Stara Zagora, Plovdiv and the industrial city of Pernik, were below the average for the country, while in the north-eastern riverside city of Rousse, it is on a par with the national average. Smolyan, Turgovishte and Montana are the worst affected, with unemployment reaching 14 per cent.
