Turnhout playing card and board game company Cartamundi to close its factory in Ireland
The Turnhout (Antwerp Province)-based board game and playing card manufacturer Cartamundi has announced that it is to close its factory at Waterford in Ireland. With demand falling, the production of board games such as Monopoly and Cluedo is being scaled down. In addition to the closure of it factory in Ireland, Cartamundi has also announced job losses at its site in the US state of Massachusetts.
The closure of the Cartamundi in Waterford will lead to the loss of around 230 jobs. News of the closure first appeared in the financial daily ‘De Tijd’ and has since been confirmed by VRT News sources.
In 2015 Cartamundi took over two factories from the American toy manufacturer Hasbro, one of which in Ireland. Since then the Waterford factory has been used for the production of well-known board games such as Monopoly, Risk, Cluedo and Trivial Pursuit.
Falling demand
Cartamundi’s CEO Stefaan Merckx says that the decision to close the factory in Ireland was inevitable as it was losing more and more money.
The fall in demand for board game is the main reason for this and the situation was worsening by the month. The other Hasbro site purchased by Cartamundi in 2015, in the US state of Massachusetts will remain open. However, jobs will also be lost there too. The company in currently in talks with the unions about its restructuring plans.
Investment
While demand for board games is falling, card games, both playing cards and card exchange games such as Pokémon have become ever more popular.
Next year Cartamundi plans an 80-million euro investment in 4 additional playing card factories. By 2025 an additional 100 jobs will be created at its factory in Turnhout, where production capacities will be doubled.