The Belgian concern Bekaert has cut 609 jobs at its West and East Flemish outfits of Zwevegem, Deerlijk, Ingelmunster and Aalter in addition to 1,250 positions in China. Key to this move is the collapse of the market for the sawing wire used to cut silicon components for solar panels. In 2010 this was one of the biggest profit earners of the company. The government of Flanders was visibly disturbed by this round of layoffs yesterday, as the West Flemish concern has been a showpiece of the Flemish industry during the past ten years, increasing its turnover  from 2 billion euros in 2006 to 3.3 billion in 2010. Bekaert invested considerably in innovation, selling its fencing business and focusing on solar panels and started a series of production units in China to serve the Asian market. Similarly its shareholder’s portfolio gained much more international ownership, moving from only 20% of all non-family owned shares in 2000 to 90% foreign participation today. Indeed, strong growth, green innovation and internationalisation were the model ingredients for the upgrading of Flemish industry. And this is what makes these layoffs even more painful. Bekaert CEO Bert De Graeve does not put the blame on lack of competitiveness but rather a drop in demand for sawing wire. Flemish Minister-president Kris Peeters CD&V, also responsible for the Economy portfolio, agrees, saying: “It’s not fair to blame policy. We have no control over a product on the global market.” The government of Flanders plans to re-employ the dismissed workers as soon as possible. The Bekaert incident is not the first disaster story this year. In January the bus maker Van Hool from Lier announced that it planned to build its new production unit in Macedonia and not in Belgium. Similarly BASF chose to invest 1 billion euros in Ludwigshafen instead of Antwerp, and this week Crown closed its plant in Deurne, with 300 employees losing their job. This all shows that things are not that rosy in the Flemish industry. The contribution of the industrial activity in employment and wealth has been on a downward spiral due to high productivity, relocations abroad and subcontracting of non-essential activities. In an attempt to turn this trend, the government of Flanders drafted a New Industrial Policy last year, based on a higher budget for innovation, the promotion of technical careers and an economic shift towards new markets. An Industrial Council will roll out the policy and propose a number of projects later this year. Minister-president Peeters is keen to hear the council’s input on the additional initiatives that could be launched to further support the industry. Together with the SP.A, he also plans to claim back from Bekaert the 17 million euros that were given for innovation and training support.