Danish wind turbine producer Vestas announced plans to cut up to 4,400 jobs across the world, most of which in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

These new cuts come on top of cuts announced earlier this year: in January 2012, the company announced a reduction of 2,335 jobs (see here). The new cuts were announced in August 2012 (1,400 job cuts) and November (3,000 job cuts). Most jobs will be lost in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (55%), but branches in the Asia Pacific (25%) and the Americas (20%) will also be affected by the cuts.

The company stresses that some reductions will happen through divestments, meaning that employees might maintain their jobs under a different employer.

Is is reported that these redundancies are the response to reduced public subsidies for wind power and fierce competition in the market.