Van de Velde to move production from E. Europe

BRUSSELS, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Belgian luxury lingerie company Van de Velde said late on Tuesday that it would move production from Eastern Europe primarily to Tunisia.

The firm said it would close its production plant in Szekszard, Hungary, which employs 345 people. It said a small percentage of the workforce may move to other production plants in Belgium, Spain and Tunisia.

"Van de Velde will clearly strictly comply with all statutory procedures and, in the event of complete closure, negotiate a fair redundancy scheme with the employees," the firm said in its statement.

Van de Velde, which exports across the European Union, to the U.S. and South-east Asia, reported net turnover of 130.3 million euros in 2007 and has production centres in Tunisia, Hungary, Romania, China and Belgium. (Reporting by Anne Jolis, editing by Will Waterman)