DHL may lay off up to 200 workers in Germany because cell phone manufacturer Nokia is closing a plant in the country.

A DHL spokesman told the German newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung the carrier is considering the cutbacks in its express operation.

Finland-based Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone company, says it plans to close the plant in Bochum, Germany, by the middle of the year, eliminating some 2,300 jobs. That prompted protests in Germany, but Nokia is cutting back there as it is expanding production at a new factory in Romania, which became part of the European Union a year ago.

Nokia said in a statement the German plant "cannot be operated in a way that meets the requirements for global cost efficiency and for flexible capacity growth."

The company, said by some air freight industry observers to be the world's largest air cargo shipper, holds 38 percent of the mobile phone market and shipped some 110.2 million handsets in last year's third quarter, 25 percent more than the year before, according to the Gartner Group research firm.

The DHL spokesman told the German newspaper the company has about 200 workers in Bochum assigned directly to the Nokia business.