The group will shut 27 plants by the end of March and expects further closures next year, director Makoto Uenoyama said.

“We expect to close about 20 percent of our 239 outlets worldwide,” he told reporters. “The next fiscal year could be tougher than this year.”

About half of the 15,000 job cuts, to be completed by March 2010, would be in Japan and the rest overseas, Uenoyama said. Both temporary and regular workers will be affected.

Panasonic’s Vietnam unit will cut jobs starting this month because of falling production, reported the Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times), citing a sernior company official. No details were available on how many of the company’s 3000 employees will lose their jobs.

The company said there is no change to its plan to buy struggling rival Sanyo Electric Co. for up to $9 billion.

Panasonic has enjoyed brisk sales of plasma televisions, mobile telephones and digital cameras in recent years, but it has not escaped the industry turmoil sparked by the global economic crisis.

“Now is a once-in-a-century situation,” Uenoyama said. “To overcome this situation, we will carry out restructuring more than ever. We hope to recover faster than any other company.”

Panasonic aims to cut costs by ¥100 billion this year, but needs further savings of ¥200 billion next year to return to profit, he said.

The huge layoffs came just days after Japanese IT giants NEC and Hitachi said they are cutting a total of 27,000 jobs. Sony Corp. has announced plans to reduce its workforce by about 16,000.

Panasonic, which changed its corporate name from Matsushita Electric Industrial in October to boost its profile, posted a third-quarter net loss of ¥63.1 billion, against a year-earlier profit of ¥115.2 billion.

Operating profit dived 84 percent in the quarter to ¥26.4 billion as revenue slumped 20 percent due to weak demand and a strong yen.

Other Japanese electronics makers, including Sony, Toshiba, NEC, Hitachi and Fujitsu, have also reported losses due to the economic crisis.

Source: Agencies