Philip Morris opens $300-M cigarette plant in Batangas

US tobacco giant Philip Morris inaugurated yesterday a P15-billion ($300 million) state-of-the-art cigarette manufacturing plant in Tanauan, Batangas, the company’s single biggest investment in the Asian region.

The plant, which can roll out up to 40 billion cigarette sticks a year at full capacity, will make the local unit Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. (PMPMI) the leading tobacco firm outside the US, company officials said.

According to Philip Morris International president and chief executive officer Andre Calantzopoulos, the facility is "the most modern cigarrete manufacturing facility in Asia" and would serve as the company’s manufacturing hub for Southeast Asia.

The plant is located within the company’s 25-hectare property at the First Philippine Industrial Park in Tanauan, a progressive town just south of Metro Manila.

PMPMI managing director Chris Nelson said the plant’s production will be initially exported to Thailand and later on to other countries in the region.

Aside from Philip Morris top officials, the plant’s inaguration was graced by government dignitaries led by Vice President Teofisto Guingona who expressed his gratitude to the leadership of Philip Morris for investing and trusting their multi-billion peso business in the Philippines.

"Philip Morris has indeed made the Philippines as the site of its Asian manufacturing operation, thus injecting additional blood in our economy through taxes and local employment," Guingona said. "It is a symbol that the Philippines is now globally competitive not only in attracting foreign investment but also necessary in an industry which is truly competitive."

Philip Morris, the tobacco arm of the Altria Group, currently holds a 14-percent share of the global cigarette market and employs some 40,000 workers worldwide in about 50 factories in various parts of the world.