Philip Morris Increases Philippines Investment

Source from:  worldtobacco.co.uk 16 October 2007 10/17/2007

The leading local tobacco company Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing is to again increase investment in the second phase of its regional leaf warehouse at the Subic Freeport in Zambales, according to CEO Mr Christopher Nelson, who added that the company will soon launch Phase II of its $ 20 million leaf warehouse. In an interview Mr Nelson said "We're looking at Phase II of the facility with a capacity of 25 million tons (MT) of leaf, while Phase I will take 6 MT. Once the regional leaf warehouse is in place, all leaf harvested in the country and in the region would be stored in the Philippines prior to shipping to other PMI manufacturing firms all over the world. The first phase of the project involves taking over and renovating an existing facility, but the second one will be an all-purpose warehouse that is four times larger than the current facility in Subic. The first leaf warehouse will be completed in the first week of November and the second facility in 2009. Philip Morris brands account for about one third of the domestic cigarette market." Enditem