Coca-Cola Europacific Partners plans to close a line at its Bad Neuenahr factory in Germany in the autumn this year.

The company said it decided to shut the non-refundable PET bottle line due to a "slight decline" in demand for non-returnable plastic bottles.

The business said it is in dialogue with the employees about the implementation of the move. CCEP said it had already received “initial signs of amicable solutions”.

The planned closure of the line affects 21 jobs at the site in western Germany, mainly in production. Changes at other locations will create two new jobs.

CCEP said it will carry out the lay-offs “exclusively on a voluntary basis”.

“The line, which has only been operating in two shifts for some time now and is technically one of the older lines, is expected to be decommissioned in September or October 2025,” the drinks giant said in a statement.

CCEP said the Bad Neuenahr site remains “an important production site”, underlining the move only affects one line at the factory. The other four production lines at the facility – two returnable PET lines and two returnable glass lines – will remain in operation.

The company bottles eight drinks at the site, including Coca-Cola Zero, Fanta Orange and Sprite.

In January, CCEP set out plans to invest around €150m ($156.2m at the time) in its operations in Germany, with most of the funding being injected into its facility in Halle.

The business said at the time that out of the €150m, nearly €45m was to be invested in the installation of a can-filling line in Halle to cater to the “increased” demand for canned beverages.

Additional investments are planned for CCEP’s sites in Lüneburg and Dorsten. CCEP plans to spend €11m in Lüneburg, where the money will be used to complete the construction of the reusable glass production line installed last year and build a new bottle sorting facility.

Meanwhile, the company will spend €8m at the Dorsten facility to install a line for manufacturing concentrates for dispenser solutions in the foodservice industry.

This line is being relocated from Cologne following CCEP’s decision to close its production and logistics facility later this year. When announced in October, the closure was expected to impact 289 out of the total 602 employees working there.