The firm said that its plastics packaging facility in North Carolina will close in the first quarter of 2010 with the loss of 220 jobs. The move would allow Rexam to “balance capacity and demand”, said group director Graham Chipchase.

The announcement comes just a week after Rexam announced the closure of a 1.1bn can facility in northern France.

In June, the company said it would shutter its Pompano Beach plastic packaging manufacturing plant in Florida, also in early 2010. Rexam blamed falling demand triggered by the global recession as the reason for the closure.