Key Cigarette Factory Strives to Develop Big Blend-Type Cigarette Brand

Source from:  Xiamen Daily newspaper 03/28/2006

Xiamen Cigarette Factory in southeast China's Fujian Province is striving to greatly develop its Golden Bridge blend-type cigarette brand, in an effort to turn it into the No. 1 Chinese-style blend-type cigarette brand and also one of the biggest cigarette brands in China. On March 23, Xiamen City Mayor Zhang Changping visited Xiamen Cigarette Factory to conduct on-site investigation and research. Zhang said that the municipal government of Xiamen will do all it can to help Xiamen Cigarete Factory expand its Haichang subsidiary and install a new blend-type cigarette production line there. According to a plan for future development formulated by Fujian Provincial China Tobacco Industry Corporation, the Golden Bridge will be a key blend-type cigarette brand for both the tobacco industry of Fujian and Xiamen Cigarette Factory given priority in future development, in order that it could become the No. 1 blend-type cigarette brand in China. Xiamen Cigarette Factory has decided to greatly enlarge its capacity to produce the Golden Bridge brand cigarettes, so that the annual output of the Golden Bridge can reach 300,000 cases (15 billion cigarettes) within the next five years. By then, the annual export volume of the Golden Bridge will have become the highest for all blend-type cigarette brands of China and the Golden Bridge will have become a representative Chinese-style blend-type cigarette brand, according to the factory. However, as the production facilities at its production center based in Huli District of Xiamen City are almost 20 years old, and as its existing production lines are of simple functions, Xiamen Cigarette Factory will have many difficulties in realizing this target. In 2005, Xiamen Cigarette Factory took steps to reform the structure of its existing cigarette brands and develop business diversification. As a result, it has realized significant concentration of its cigarette production on big competitive brands, with both the output and sales volume keeping going up steadily and with its economic efficiency going up significantly. In 2005, Xiamen Cigarette Factory produced 29.75 billion cigarettes (595,000 cases), and earned 3.799 billion yuan (468 million U.S. dollars) in sales income. In the year, Xiamen Cigarette Factory took the 11th place among all tobacco manufacturing enterprises in China in terms of rating on the basis of corporate composite indexes, up 6 places from 2004. In business diversification, Xiamen Cigarette Factory has invested in the establishment of a tire production enterprise, known as Zhengxin Inner Tube Co., Ltd. After going into operation, this enterprise is expected to generate 160 million yuan (19.7 million U.S. dollars) in output value added in the second half of 2006. Besides, the second-phase construction of Zhengxin Inner Tube Co., Ltd. is under busy preparation. It is expected to be completed in three years. Xiamen Cigarette Factory is one of the 36 key Chinese tobacco manufacturers designated by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration - the watchdog of China's tobacco industry. Enditem