<strong>China: Provincial Corporation to Build First-rate Cigar Production Base</strong>

Source from:  TobaccoChina Online 11/13/2013

China Tobacco Hubei Industrial Co., Ltd. in central China's Hubei Province is planning to build a nationally first-rate cigar production base in Yichang City in the province, in efforts to significantly boost cigarette production in the province and make the cigar-making sector of the provincial tobacco industry more competitive.

On November 3, Peng Mingquan, a deputy to the National People's Congress, and general manager and Communist Party group secretary of China Tobacco Hubei Industrial Co., Ltd., inspected the Three Gorges Cigarette Factory of China Tobacco Hubei Industrial Co., Ltd. in Yiling District of Yichang City, and held talks with the leadership of Yiling District on building the cigar production base within the premises of the Three Georges Cigarette Factory.

Huang Chuping, member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Hubei Provincial Committee and secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Yichang City Committee, met with Peng Mingquan and his entourage.

It was reported that the cigar production base will cover a total area of more than 110 mu (more than 7.3 hectares). The investment in the first phase of the project will reach 500 million yuan (80 million U.S. dollars), and in the second phase 1 billion yuan (160 million U.S. dollars). When its construction is completed, the cigar production base will have been one of the four major cigar production bases in China.

Presently, the Three Gorges Cigarette Factory of annually produce 60 million handmade cigars and 25,000 cases of machine-made cigars. Cigar products of China Tobacco Hubei Industrial Co., Ltd. are exported to Europe and Southeast Asia and are sold to 170 tobacco subcompanies in 21 provincial-level regions in China. Each year, China Tobacco Hubei Industrial Co., Ltd. earns over 1 billion yuan (over 160 million U.S. dollars) in cigar output value. Enditem