JT's Century-Old Morioka Cigarette Plant has Its Last Gasp

Source from:  The Japan Times 03/22/2010

Japan Tobacco Inc. halted operations Friday at its cigarette plant in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, which has been open for more than a century, as it streamlines production in response to falling domestic demand. Following Friday's last shipment of 2.56 million cigarettes - 480,000 Caster and 2.09 million Cabin Mild cigarettes - the plant will close at the end of the month. The plant began operating in 1905. The plant turned out 13.1 billion cigarettes in its peak year in fiscal 2004, but sluggish sales forced output to be nearly halved to 6.6 billion cigarettes in fiscal 2008. Staffing at the plant has also fallen in recent decades, from about 600 employees in 1972 to about 120 as of last April. JT will continue to purchase tobacco leaves from local farmers, the firm said. The company is slated to also shut down a plant in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, on March 31 and another in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, next year, consolidating production in six plants, including one in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture. Enditem