It comes just two months after the plant manufacturer revealed 400 UK staff jobs were at risk as a result of the economic situation.

The latest proposed redundancies are among shop floor workers based at its factories in Staffordshire and in Wrexham. The diesel engine factory in Derby is unaffected.

Discussions over the proposed redundancies began today with the GMB union and a 45 day consultation period has started.

JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald said: “Manufacturers in the construction equipment industry are currently facing very tough trading conditions and we have to react to the current market reality to protect the long-term future of the business.

“As the global economy shows no sign of improving, the short-term outlook remains very challenging.”

JCB GMB Works Convenor Gordon Richardson said: “This news is obviously very disappointing but it has been apparent now for some time that global markets have been declining.

“Our job as a trade union is to now work hard to formulate a plan to mitigate the impact of the proposed redundancies.”

Separate consultations over the earlier wave of planned redundancies are continuing.

The firm employs around 5,000 people in the UK but it has been hit by the dramatic slowdown in demand in its markets, which started in the summer and has resulted in a big fall in machine orders from its customers.

In the first six months of the year, the market in Russia has dropped by 70%, Brazil by 36% and China by 47%.

Parts of Europe are also struggling, with France down by 26%.

Even the strong growth in the UK and North America has softened due to a fall in market confidence over the summer, which has been prompted to an extent by low oil and commodity prices in countries which depend on these resources to drive economic growth.