Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the largest U. S. tire maker informed Friday it would shutter down its tire manufacturing plant in Philippines, blaming hostile market conditions for the current move.

The shutdown of the plant will result into around 500 job losses.

To add salt to the wound, Goodyear said it plans to trim down its staff by 6.7 percent in 2009, which would account for 5,000 job losses worldwide.

It may be noted here that plant shutdowns in 2009 by auto companies such as General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC have hacked demand for tires.

The company is expecting the shutdown to complete by the end of the present quarter.

Keith Price, Goodyear spokesman said the company is shifting production to lower-cost plants in the Southeast Asian countries.

Apart from Goodyear, other tire companies like Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Continental AG, Michelin, Bridgestone Corp. and Pirelli have closed seven tire plants.

In total, tire production all over the globe is expected to plunge by 20 percent to 52.5 million tires in 2009.

In the recent trading, Goodyear Shares closed at $12.91, up 30 cents on NYSE.