National Tobacco Hub to Grow

Source from:  The Courier-Journal By MARCUS GREEN  06/16/2004

Tax credits pave way for 36 jobs in western Louisville National Tobacco Co. will announce today an expansion of its western Louisville distribution hub, according to Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson's office. The loose-tobacco maker, a subsidiary of North Atlantic Trading Co. Inc., received approval for $1 million in tax incentives last December from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority. Under the incentive package, the company would add 49,000 square feet, 36 jobs and $1million in payroll. As of December 2003, the site employed about 155 people. North Atlantic was also considering moving to Dresden, Tenn., where the company owns Stoker Inc., a maker of lower-priced, roll-your-own brands. Abramson will join representatives from Gov. Ernie Fletcher's staff and Greater Louisville Inc. this morning at National Tobacco, 3029 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd. David Brunson, North Atlantic's president and chief financial officer, could not be reached yesterday. An Abramson spokesman declined to elaborate. "Initiatives that increase the prospects and reality of jobs in Louisville (are) a plus," said Democratic state Sen. Gerald Neal, who represents National Tobacco's district. "And we should be supporting industry that provides economic benefits." North Atlantic makes and markets chewing tobacco such as Beech-Nut and Durango, Zig-Zag rolling papers and cigarette tubes in addition to its loose tobacco. An estimated 15 percent of the nation's smokers make their own cigarettes and also smoke packaged cigarettes. Five percent exclusively make their own cigarettes. The hand-rolled cigarette industry has grabbed a small piece of the market controlled by major tobacco companies. In a December interview with The Courier-Journal, Brunson said the make-your-own tobacco segment market share had grown from 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent since the 1998 master settlement agreement between dozens of states and the major tobacco companies to avoid lawsuits over smoking-related illnesses. The Maxwell Report, a tobacco-industry publication in Richmond, Va., estimates that the roll-your-own-cigarette industry accounted for 6 billion cigarettes last year. Enditem