Key Tobacco Manufacturer Starts Production of New Cheap Brand

07/05/2006

Huaiyin Cigarette Factory in east China's Jiangsu Province started on June 29 batch production of the Bumper Harvest - a new low-priced cigarette product jointly developed by a Chinese tobacco research institute and five tobacco manufacturers - after busy preparations for a month. Huaiyin Cigarette Factory - a key tobacco manufacturer designated by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) - is in a second group of tobacco manufacturers authorized to produce the Bumper Harvest. The first batch of the Bumper Harvest produced by Huaiyin Cigarette Factory will be 400 cases (20 million cigarettes). In the whole of 2006, Huaiyin Cigarette Factory will produce over 30,000 cases (1.5 billion cigarettes) of the Bumper Harvest. In early 2006, the STMA adopted a decision to designate Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute and Xiamen, Nanjing, Changde, Wuhan and Fuyang Cigarette Factories to develop the Bumper Harvest as a new low-priced cigarette brand shared by them. These five cigarette factories are the first group of tobacco manufacturers authorized to produce the Bumper Harvest. The STMA decision to develop the Bumper Harvest is viewed as an effective measure to reform low-grade cigarettes market in China. The development of the Bumper Harvest was in full compliance with the requirements of the STMA to develop a national single tobacco market in China and develop new cigarette products with consistent styles and stable quality, and based on extensive solicitation of opinions from experts and traders and repeated readjustments to optimize the blending formula. It is also part of a measure taken by the tobacco industry of China to reform the structure of cigarette products in accordance with the reform plan of the STMA. The STMA approved authorization of Huaiyin Cigarette Factory to produce the Bumper Harvest in early June. On June 19, Huaiyin Cigarette Factory completed the designing of sample products of the Bumper Harvest, using less than a week of time. In an effort to guarantee product quality, Huaiyin Cigarette Factory particularly invited a panel of experts with Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute who are in charge of the project to develop the Bumper Harvest to offer technical guidance. After conducting an appraisal, the panel of experts agreed that the aesthetic quality of the sample products supplied by Huaiyin Cigarette Factory met the relevant technical requirement, and agreed to authorize it produce the new low-priced cigarette popular cigarette brand. Enditem