Dairy giant FrieslandCampina said on Tuesday it will cut 1,000 jobs by the end of next year, blaming the direct and indirect impact of coronavirus and pressure on profit margins in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

The job cuts will lead to savings of some €100m a year by 2022, the company said. The company has a workforce of 24,000 in 36 countries.

The jobs will mostly go in the management layers, production network and support services, and will mainly be lost in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, the company said.

‘To date this year, the majority of our operating companies have managed to increase revenue and we have also strengthened our positions in important consumer markets such as the Netherlands, the Philippines, Pakistan, Indonesia and China,’ chief executive Hein Schumacher said.

However, he said, setbacks directly or indirectly caused by the coronavirus pandemic – such as the closed border between Hong Kong and China, the fall in revenues from food services, the devaluation of local currencies and lower bulk dairy prices ‘have significant financial impact on our profitability in 2020 and cannot fully be offset.’