PRAGUE, July 2 (Reuters) - Engineering group Siemens will cut the 900 jobs at its Prague rail car factory in August, a spokesman said on Thursday, the latest jobs loss as central European industry struggles to gain orders.
Siemens, which employs 10,000 in the Czech Republic, first announced the plant was closing a year ago but has held negotiations with potential investors to help save the jobs.
"We are negotiating at the moment with potential investors for the factory, but the fact is, (of) the investors we are in talks with, none is willing buy the company as a legal entity," spokesman Petr Sedlacek said.
"The only option is to sell the assets of the factory ... So we have to terminate all the employee contracts."
The Czech economy shrunk by 3.4 percent in the first quarter and industrial output has dropped by more than 20 percent in the past months as Czech manufacturers lack orders from main export markets such as Germany.
Unemployment in the central European country of 10.5 million has risen to 7.9 percent and analysts expect it to reach 10 percent later this year. (Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)