Hanover, Germany - Subcontractors and parts suppliers in Germany warned Monday that they might have to shed as many as 100,000 of their collective workforce if the recession persists.

The sector, which supplies parts to bigger industry, currently employs about 1 million people.

Theodor L. Tutmann, spokesman for the Supplier Working Party, representing 8,000 companies, said at the Hanover Fair, a major industry expo which began in Germany Monday, that the scale of layoffs depended on how long the recession continued.

He said 10 to 15 per cent of the companies were at risk of insolvency. In the first quarter of this year, the sector had taken 40 per cent fewer orders than one year earlier, but it was expecting a modest stabilization in the second half of the year.

The sector expected its sales for 2009 to be down by 20 per cent, he added. (dpa)