TOKYO, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp said on Friday it has decided to close down its videocassette plant in France, with the rise of disk- and chip-based recording technologies cutting demand for the magnetic tape. The 24-year-old factory in Dax, France, employes 312 workers and makes around 8 million VHS videocassettes per month. It also produces 8 mm and Betacam SP videocassettes.
Sony said it expects to shut it down by the end of March but estimated costs from the closure are still unknown.
Sony shares were up 1.1 percent at 1,743 yen as of 0037 GMT, against a 0.1 percent slide in the Nikkei average. (Reporting by Sachi Izumi; Editing by Michael Watson)