Philip Morris to build P1-B warehouse in Subic next year
Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing, Inc. will start building a P1-billion tobacco leaf warehouse in Olongapo City next year, with company officials committing to expand operations here despite the global economic slowdown.
The investment will be on top of its recently completed P70-million cigarette warehouse in Batangas.
Targeting the low-income market and strengthening its distribution network have allowed the local subsidiary of the multinational cigarette maker to remain profitable, officials said.
Chris J. Nelson, Philip Morris Philippines managing director, told reporters yesterday they would build the leaf storage facility at the Subic Bay Freeport next year.
The facility will hold up to 24,000 metric tons of tobacco obtained from local and foreign suppliers. It will be four times bigger than its existing facility, also in Subic.
The announcement came as the company inagurated its 3,500-square meter cigarette warehouse extension in Tanauan City, Batangas.
The cigarette warehouse, completed in September, can hold a billion cigarette sticks for sale here and abroad, particularly to Thailand, Pakistan and other countries in the region.
The warehouse increases Philip Morris’s storage capacity by more than half to 1.8 billion sticks. It accomodates increased production and meets the need for more efficient and higher-quality storage facilities, Mr. Nelson said.
"The new investment we are inagurating today is further assurance not only to tobacco farmers, but to all our stakeholders that Philip Morris Philippines is here to stay," he said. "We’ve expanded. It’s hard to predict the next five years, but that’s the trend we want to continue," he added.
Vincent Nguyen, Philip Morris Philippines operations director, said: "We will, in the next five years, make this the best manufacturing [site] in Asia."
The company is upbeat about local prospects and expects "fair to good" profit growth by year-end, Mr. Nelson said, but declined to go into the details.
The firm has kept sales up by launching cheaper cigarette packs containing only five sticks, he said.
Philip Morris International, Inc. earlier said third-quarter profits went up by a fifth to $2.08 billion due to strong sales in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Asked to comment on the country’s ongoing cigarette trade dispute with Thailand, Mr. Nelson cited the need to resolve the case given the uncertainty over the cost of exporting, which has made long-term planning difficult.
Thailand is Philip Morris’s main export market. The two countries have been embroiled in a two-year dispute on the taxes Thailand imposes on cigarettes from the Philippines. — Jessica Anne D. Hermosa, BusinessWorld
The investment will be on top of its recently completed P70-million cigarette warehouse in Batangas.
Targeting the low-income market and strengthening its distribution network have allowed the local subsidiary of the multinational cigarette maker to remain profitable, officials said.
Chris J. Nelson, Philip Morris Philippines managing director, told reporters yesterday they would build the leaf storage facility at the Subic Bay Freeport next year.
The facility will hold up to 24,000 metric tons of tobacco obtained from local and foreign suppliers. It will be four times bigger than its existing facility, also in Subic.
The announcement came as the company inagurated its 3,500-square meter cigarette warehouse extension in Tanauan City, Batangas.
The cigarette warehouse, completed in September, can hold a billion cigarette sticks for sale here and abroad, particularly to Thailand, Pakistan and other countries in the region.
The warehouse increases Philip Morris’s storage capacity by more than half to 1.8 billion sticks. It accomodates increased production and meets the need for more efficient and higher-quality storage facilities, Mr. Nelson said.
"The new investment we are inagurating today is further assurance not only to tobacco farmers, but to all our stakeholders that Philip Morris Philippines is here to stay," he said. "We’ve expanded. It’s hard to predict the next five years, but that’s the trend we want to continue," he added.
Vincent Nguyen, Philip Morris Philippines operations director, said: "We will, in the next five years, make this the best manufacturing [site] in Asia."
The company is upbeat about local prospects and expects "fair to good" profit growth by year-end, Mr. Nelson said, but declined to go into the details.
The firm has kept sales up by launching cheaper cigarette packs containing only five sticks, he said.
Philip Morris International, Inc. earlier said third-quarter profits went up by a fifth to $2.08 billion due to strong sales in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Asked to comment on the country’s ongoing cigarette trade dispute with Thailand, Mr. Nelson cited the need to resolve the case given the uncertainty over the cost of exporting, which has made long-term planning difficult.
Thailand is Philip Morris’s main export market. The two countries have been embroiled in a two-year dispute on the taxes Thailand imposes on cigarettes from the Philippines. — Jessica Anne D. Hermosa, BusinessWorld
Labels: investment, Philip Morris, subic
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