Technical transformation of key tobacco manufacturer nears completion

Source from:  Changde City 12/01/2008

A costly project of technical transformation of Changde Cigarette Factory – part of Hunan Provincial China Tobacco Industry Corporation in south central China’s Hunan Province – is nearing completion, with workers busy installing and testing a new production line for making cigarettes of the leading competitive Furongwang (Hibiscus King) brand. Installation of the new Furongwang production line is the core of the project of technical transformation. The new production line – intended to significantly increase the annual output of Furongwang to meet the growing market demand – is scheduled to go into trial operation in early spring 2009, and into formal operation on May 1, 2009. The project of technical transformation, with investment estimated to amount to hundreds of millions of yuan (tens of millions of U.S. dollars), was started on December 28, 2006. The project includes the construction of a 61,120-square-meter joint workshop building for producing Furongwang, installation of the 6,000kg/h new Furongwang production line, construction of a 4,000-square-meter power center, transformation of all existing power supply facilities, reform and improvement of the overall structure of Changde Cigarette Factory and restructuring of the outdoor facilities at the factory. In November 2006, Changsha Cigarette Factory and Changde Cigarette Factory merged to form Hunan Provincial China Tobacco Industry Co., Ltd. as the sole tobacco manufacturing enterprise group in the province. Since the merger, priority has been given to the development of Furongwang as a high-grade cigarette brand of Hunan Province. Over recent years, the market demand for Furongwang has kept growing. The output of Furongwang reached 21.5 billion cigarettes (430,000 cases) in 2007, up nearly 50 percent year-on-year, with the quality of products improving amid stability. Results of sample test conducted by quality control agencies at the national, provincial and city levels indicate that all cigarette products of Furongwang meet the technical standards by 100 percent. In December 2007, Furongwang won a grand prix at an activity to select famous Chinese brands for the year by the World Brand Laboratory, which is a famous world brand evaluation organization. Furongwang was the only cigarette brand to win this honor for the year. Since the beginning of 2008, Furongwang and Baisha – the two leading competitive cigarette brands of the tobacco industry of Hunan – have been in a favorable trend of development. Changde Cigarette Factory is expected to earn 26 billion yuan (3.7 billion U.S. dollars) in annual sales in the whole of 2008, including 22 billion yuan (3.1 billion U.S. dollars) in industrial output value, with the amount of profits and taxes expected to reach 18 billion yuan (2.6 billion U.S. dollars). Enditem