Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) says it will expand its smoke-free product facility in Italy with an investment of €500 million, or the equivalent of about $559.1 million. The expansion is expected to be completed by end of 2018, and would create up to 600 jobs. The facility currently employs over 600 people.
Bryson W. Thornton, PMI’s director of communications for Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, says the development is “further evidence of PMI’s commitment to a smoke-free future and the ongoing investments we are making to transform our business and encourage smokers to convert to smoke-free products.”
Part of these investments is the recent strategic partnership Philip Morris Limited (PML), the national affiliate of Philip Morris International (PMI) in Nigeria, entered with International Tobacco Company Limited (ITC) to manufacture one of PMI’s leading brands in Nigeria.
Under the agreement, PML will be investing in technology and capacity building at ITC’s factory in Kwara State, creating additional employment opportunities and contributing to the local and national economy.
The expansion of the Bologna facility follows the announcement earlier this month that PMI will invest approximately USD320 million in a HEETS production facility in Dresden, Germany, adding to the previously announced investments in the conversion of cigarette manufacturing facilities in Greece, Romania and Russia to HEETS production.
HEETS, also branded as HeatSticks in some markets, are specially designed tobacco products that contain tobacco material and several filter sections. The specially designed tobacco product is intended exclusively for use with a precisely controlled heating device that is being commercialized under the IQOS brand name.
HEETS are made up of elements that include a tobacco plug, hollow acetate tube, polymer-film filter, cellulose-acetate mouthpiece filter, and outer and mouth-end papers.
PMI’s heated tobacco products are made by blending high-quality tobaccos from selected types and origins. These tobaccos are then ground to provide the perfect mixture and reconstituted back into a tobacco sheet to manufacture HEETS.
Chuks Oluigbo
