Finance and Economic

Chemicals maker DuPont Co said it would cut another 2,000 jobs as part of its cost-cutting plan and take a $340 million to $390 million charge in the second quarter.

Those job cuts are on top of the DuPont 2,500 employees and 4,000 contractor positions the company had said in December that it would eliminate.

The restructuring plan is expected to deliver a $70 million in benefits in 2009 and $225 million in savings by the end of 2010, DuPont said in a statement creditreport.

About 40 percent of the second-quarter charge is expected to be noncash.

The chemicals sector has suffered as the economic recession shrunk demand from both industrial customers and consumers. DuPont said last month its first-quarter sales fell 20 percent.

(Reporting by Matt Daily, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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