Beko, the home appliances brand owned by Türkiye's Arçelik, plans to reduce its workforce in Italy almost by half, trade unions said on Wednesday.

The company announced 1,935 redundancies, out of 4,440 employees in total, during a meeting hosted by Italy's Industry Ministry, the Fim, Fiom, Uilm and Uglm unions said in a joint statement.

Beko Europe confirmed the cuts, saying in a statement that Italian operations were "underperforming financially, as a result of a challenging industry context, including increased competition from players from Asia and weakened demand."

It said factory utilization rates, at under 40%, were unsustainable and added it would invest 110 million euros ($116 million) to reshape the company’s presence in Italy to create a sustainable long-term footprint.

The Industry Ministry said in a statement the plan put forward by Beko's executives was not acceptable, adding the government would use all means at its disposal to try to safeguard jobs.

The biggest planned cuts – 541 jobs – involve a fridge factory in the northern province of Varese, where however three production lines would be maintained.

Two other sites – a freezer factory in Siena and a plant for washing machines and dryers in the central Marche region – are set to close, with the loss of 610 jobs in total.

Beko took on the Italian operations as part of its purchase of Whirlpool's European domestic appliances business, which was approved last year by EU antitrust regulators.