According to Nikkei, Japan's Panasonic Corp planned to shut down its sole European solar cell plant. The shutdown would occur next March that would lead to the dismissal of about 500 workers in the factory.

On September, the Hungarian solar cell plant will cease its production. This would leave the company with only one solar cell plant. The said plants are found separately in Osaka and Shiga prefectures. Another plant is located in Malaysia said the business newspaper. Nikkei added that the equipment from its Hungarian facility will be transferred to other plants.

The close down of the solar cell factory was prompted as the yen weakened. This made Panasonic shift production from Europe back to Japan said newspaper. The company aimed to sell around 675,000 KW of solar cells around the world in the year ending March. This would drive an increase of its sale by 25% from a year earlier said Nikkei.