Manufacturing giant Franke plans to shut a Falkirk sink-making firm with the loss of 200 jobs.

The Swiss group intends to close Carron Phoenix over the next 18 to 20 months as it moves operations to Slovakia.

Two other Franke-owned firms in the Netherlands and Slovakia are also expected to shut their doors by December 2017.

Scottish Trades Union Congress general secretary Grahame Smith described the news as a "devastating blow" to the Falkirk community.

Franke operations director Bart Doornkamp said: "We are facing intense pressure from other international manufacturers in what is a very competitive global market and have been working hard over the past year to devise an effective, long-term strategy.

"As a result, regrettably we have been left with no choice but to close our three existing facilities in Falkirk, Brunssum in Holland and Zilina in Slovakia and centralise our production on a more efficient, purpose-built greenfield site in Slovakia which will open in spring 2017.

"This is not a decision we have taken lightly. We examined in great detail the option of upgrading the Falkirk plant but the high level of investment that would have been required made the business case simply unsustainable.

"Consultation with the trade unions is a priority to ensure that we undertake an orderly, phased closure of the plant by December 2017.

"Dependent on those discussions, we are hopeful that there will be no redundancies before the start of next year."

A total of 15 warehouse-based jobs will be retained in at Carron Phoenix as Franke establishes a new logistics facility locally.

Mr Smith added: "Closure of this plant also represents another huge setback for Scottish manufacturing which has contracted for three out the last four quarters and isn't yet close to returning to pre-recession levels of output.

"The past year has seen a succession of large closures and job losses which will have negative consequences for workers and local economies for years to come."

Carron was established as an iron foundry in 1759 and at one point employed 5000 people. Franke bought the firm out of liquidation in 1990.

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