The aluminium manufacturer Alcan have announced 310 job losses at its plant in Rogerstone in south east Wales.

Half of the workforce are to go in the job cuts with the redundancies being phased in over the next year.

It follows the news last month that fellow aluminium company Alcoa was to shut its north Wales plant at Dolgarrog in the Conwy Valley and its plant in Swansea, south Wales, next summer with the loss of 227 jobs.

The roll products plant is on course to make losses of �14mthis year and the company said something needed to be done.

Workers were told on Tuesday lunchtime after a meeting with unions.

The economic crisis, made worse by the US terrorist attacks, was blamed.

A spokeswoman said the factory needed to "refocus" and reduce the number of products and the central busines.

The first 110 jobs will be lost in the middle of next year. The remainder will go by January 2003.

The company had been reviewing all its operations since October.

More follows