WEST Launched in Kunming

Source from:  01/02/2004 01/02/2004

Imperial Tobacco Group held a meeting on December 17 to promote a new cigarette product of WEST jointly produced by Imperial and Hongta Group. Vice Governor of Yunnan Province Cheng Yingxuan, General Manager of Yunnan Zhongyan Industrial Co. Zhang Shuichang, Hongta Group President Yao Qingyan and Situ De, general manager of Imperial Tobacco (China and Hong Kong), attended the launching ceremony. Leaders of the commercial company of Yunnan Zhongyan Industrial Co. as well as Vice Presidents of Hongta Group Li Suiming and Ma Shuxun were also present. Situ De introduced Imperial Tobacco Group and the WEST brand. Imperial Tobacco has 36 production bases and 16500 employees throughout the world, while its cigarettes and cigarette products are sold in more than 130 counties with the cigarette output volume taking the fourth place in the world. WEST is a tactic brand of Imperial Tobacco and the annual sales volume stands at about 3.3 million cigarettes. As a strong brand in the world, WEST mainly promotes itself by sponsoring F1 Formula Car Racing and McLaren Motorcade. Situ De said it was the first result for Imperial Tobacco to cooperate with Hongta Group in producing the WEST cigarettes, marking the first step of his company toward the entry into the Chinese market. The meeting for launching the product reflected the young, active and vigorous characters of the brand, while fully displaying the characters of WEST. Hongta Group and Imperial Tobacco Group signed a contract on joint production of WEST cigarettes on August 7, 2003 in Beijing. David Chriswell, director of global production of Imperial Tobacco, visited Hongta on November 5 and coordinated the work related to the WEST production. After a month’s technological transformation and equipment debugging, Yuxi Cigarette Factory subordinated to Hongta Group started to produce WEST cigarettes on December 2. The new product includes two types. The ordinary type sees 12mg tar content and 1.0mg nicotine in smoke, while the pure and mild type sees 8mg tar content and 0.7mg nicotine in smoke. The exterior packing and interior quality conform to the criteria set down by the European Union. The first batch of WEST cigarettes made by Hongta Group was launched in the markets of Shanghai and Kunming separately on December 16 and 18. Enditem SOURCE FROM： Hongta Times