Key Cigarette Factory Sets Up Exclusive Base

Source from:  Qujing Cigarette Factory 10/26/2004

Qujing Cigarette Factory in southwest China's Yunnan – one of the 36 key Chinese tobacco manufacturers – has managed to establish its own leaf tobacco production and supply base, in an effort to ensure the supply of high-quality leaf tobacco for its cigarette production. [img border=0 hspace="4" vspace="4" align="left" src=http://www.tobaccochina.com/english/picture/B20-228837.jpg] As competition within the tobacco industry is turning increasingly intense, tobacco manufacturers all have higher and higher demand for the supply of qualified raw materials. How to effectively ensure the supply of leaf tobacco with a stable quality, with a coordinated chemical composition and with a high industrial usability is a target for all. The establishment of exclusive production and supply bases appears to be a practical approach. Qujing Cigarette Factory has become the first tobacco manufacturer in Yunnan – a large tobacco-growing region known as the kingdom of tobacco in China – to establish an exclusive leaf tobacco production and supply base within the province. [B]ESTABLISHMENT OF EXCLUSIVE BASES – INEVITABLE TREND[/B] Increasingly intense market competition leads to the rise in demand for better raw materials, according to sources with the tobacco industry. Wang Jun with the Raw Materials Department of Qujing Cigarette Factory said that intensity of market competition results in constant changes in demand for the supply of raw materials, from extensive demand in the past to demand for the supply of fine, carefully-grown and well-processed leaf tobacco now, which is a consequence of market competition. "The exclusive leaf tobacco production and supply base covering three counties and four townships in the vicinity of Qujing Cigarette Factory is capable of sufficiently supplying reliable raw materials for us. With part of the raw materials purchased from other regions, we can ensure the supply of raw materials for our cigarette production," Wang Jun said. Wang Shaokun, Deputy Director of Qujing Cigarette Factory in charge of raw materials supply, is a strong advocate for the establishment of exclusive leaf tobacco production and supply base, speaking highly of the great significance of establishing exclusive bases. "Leaf tobacco is the basic raw material for cigarette production, whose quality directly affects the quality of cigarettes as final products. To attain the target of developing highly competitive cigarette brands and developing large, competitive groups of tobacco manufacturing enterprises, it is imperative to establish exclusive leaf tobacco production and supply bases," he said. "As we have established an exclusive base, we are now able to have steady supply of leaf tobacco with a relatively stable quality that meets both the quantitative and grading requirements. The production, purchase and storage of leaf tobacco from the base are strictly in accordance with the requirements set by our technicians. Therefore, we have a relatively well-established source of supply of raw materials. The production and supply of high-quality raw materials, the possession of advanced production equipment and the application of improved technology management systems as well as the high sense of responsibility on the part of our staff members are all preconditions for the production of high-quality cigarettes, which are becoming powerful weapons to win competition," said Wang Shaokun. [b]GOVERNMENT SUPPORT[/b] Under active coordination by Qujing City Communist Party Committee and Qujing City Municipal Government, Qujing Cigarette Factory and Qujing City Tobacco Company – which is actually under the monopoly of the local government – reached an agreement after many rounds of consultations on the establishment of the exclusive leaf tobacco production and supply base covering three counties and four townships for Qujing Cigarette Factory. After the endorsement of this agreement by the competent administrative authorities above both the cigarette factory and the tobacco company, Qujing Cigarette Factory has become the first tobacco manufacturer in Yunnan to have an exclusive leaf tobacco production and supply base. In choosing the site for establishing the exclusive leaf tobacco production and supply base, Qujing Cigarette Factory gave full consideration to all the natural conditions of the areas concerned, including the ecological conditions, climate and soil conditions and the leaf tobacco processing capacity. Eventually, it chose the area covering three counties and four townships in its vicinity as the desired site. The area produces leaf tobacco with a relatively high quality and with a fine regional difference, which can well meet the requirement of Qujing Cigarette Factory for the blending of raw materials and for industrial usability in cigarette production. The establishment of the exclusive base in this area has contributed to ensuring the stable supply of fine raw materials for the production of high-quality cigarettes of all brands on the part of Qujing Cigarette Factory. According to the agreement, Qujing City Tobacco Company will organize leaf tobacco production in the exclusive base on a unified basis, strictly in accordance with the requirements of Qujing Cigarette Factory for quality control, varieties, field management, supply of sample leaf tobacco produced, etc. It will also be responsible for purchasing processed leaf tobacco from the base and supplying it to Qujing Cigarette Factory. [b]QUALITY CONTROL[/b] As the leaf tobacco production and supply base is exclusive, the tobacco manufacturer is able to directly issue it with requirements for quality control, and directly guide leaf tobacco production on the part of it with technical means. In the composition of chemical elements in leaf tobacco, the content of nicotine can significantly affect the flavor, stimulation and spirit of cigarettes. A high content of nicotine will make cigarettes have too stimulative and have a bitter aftertaste. Therefore, to control the content of nicotine within a proper extent is a core technology in the production of cigarettes. As Yunnan is part of the Yunnan-Guizhou highland in southwest China with a warm climate, and as a result of application of certain technical measures, leaf tobacco produced in Yunnan is often of a relatively high content of nicotine. In an effort to solve this problem and optimize the chemical composition of leaf tobacco grown in the exclusive base, Qujing City Tobacco Company, in accordance with the technical requirement of Qujing Cigarette Factory, has adopted many technical measures designed to improve the quality of leaf tobacco grown in the base, which are capable of effectively controlling the content of nicotine and maintaining a coordinated chemical composition of leaf tobacco. Because of the adoption of such technical measures, the base has been able to produce and supply high-quality leaf tobacco for Qujing Cigarette Factory strictly in accordance with its technical requirements. Enditem