International cement company Holcim has put plans for a new national factory near the South Island town of Oamaru on hold.
The $400 million plant at Weston would become the company's sole production facility and create about 120 permanent jobs in the area.
The construction phase was also expected to create work for about 450 people.
A decision to proceed with the factory had been expected in August this year.
Holcim New Zealand's capital projects manager Ken Cowie says the company's Swiss headquarters has put the project on hold due to uncertainty created by the global economic downturn and it will not be considered again before late next year.
Mr Cowie says his New Zealand team is disappointed the project is not going ahead.
The chairperson of the Waiareka Valley Preservation Society, Peter Rodwell, says it proves the society was right to argue in court two years ago that the plant is not viable for New Zealand.
The 120 jobs created in Weston would come at the expense of a larger workforce, of approximately 130 staff, at Holcim's current cement works in Westport.
Buller district mayor Pat McManus says it is great news that Westport has a year's reprieve and more time to replace the exports it will lose from the local port.
But Mr McManus says the uncertainty is very hard on the plant's workers.
