MADRID – Spanish appliance maker Fagor Electrodomesticos has filed for bankruptcy protection after years of economic crisis caused a dramatic drop in sales.

The company, part of the Basque region’s Mondragon co-operative, said Wednesday it was unable to find financing to pay off an unspecified amount of debt.

Fagor has nearly 6,000 employees and estimates sales have dropped by 37 per cent since 2007, just before Spain’s economic crisis began with the collapse of the country’s real estate sector.

Spain has been in recession for most of the last four years and has an unemployment rate of 26.3 per cent.

Fagor, which claims to be Europe’s fifth-largest appliance maker, has four months to try to reach an agreement with creditors.