CNH Industrial temporarily halts four plants in Italy to fight virus

MILAN (Reuters) - Industrial vehicle maker CNH Industrial <CNHI.MI> has temporarily halted operations at four of its plants in Italy to implement measures to fight a coronavirus outbreak in the country, a spokesman said on Thursday.

The maker of farm machinery, Iveco commercial vehicles, construction equipment and powertrains said on Wednesday that, where necessary, it would temporarily close Italian production facilities in response to the virus emergency.

Plants, with a total of more than 4,000 workers, were affect they are located in Brescia, Suzzara, Piacenza and San Mauro Torinese, all in northern Italy.

Plants in Brescia and Suzzara are set to reopen on Monday, the one in Piacenza on March 19, the spokesman said.

A reopening date for the San Mauro Torinese pant, near Turin, has not been set as suspected coronavirus cases had emerged among its workers, the spokesman said.

The spokesman said the group would evaluate whether production rates would be affected at the reopening, adding that it was likely to impact some departments as work and rest areas needed to be sanitised and some production lines needed to adjusted to allow more space between workers.

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Stephen Jewkes and Edmund Blair)