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The drumbeat of plant closings by manufacturers in Canada continued Friday as CCL Industries Inc., said it will close its aerosol manufacturing plant by the middle of 2015.

The plant will begin winding down operations early next year, eliminating 170 jobs in Penetanguishine, Ont., northwest of Toronto.

"Our operation in Ontario now exports its entire output into the United States; distance from key customers and the step change rise of the Canadian dollar over the last decade combined to significantly impede competitiveness," Geoffrey Martin, president of the Toronto-based company said in a statement Friday.

Canadian manufacturers have been battered by the rise in the value of the dollar against the U.S. currency and the slow recovery of the U.S. and Canadian economies from the recession.

The CCL plant in Penetanguishine has been unprofitable since 2009 after posting sizable losses during the recession, Mr. Martin said. Results improved in 2012 and this year, but the factory continues to lose money.

The company said it will expand operations in Toronto and Montreal and will also invest $25-million at plants in the United States and Mexico.

It will take a pre-tax charge of $11-million in the fourth quarter and expense another $4-million in 2014 and 2015.

CCL said earlier this month that nine-month profit rose to $84.1-million or $2.46 a share from $77.6-million or $2.32 a share a year earlier. Revenue rose to $1.33-billion from $995-million.

The company's shares rose 23 cents Friday to $81.58 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The CCL closing announcement came one week after H.J. Heinz Co. announced the closing of a ketchup and sauce making plant in Leamington, Ont., which will throw more than 700 people out of work.

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