The Chisinau tobacco factory Tutun CTC began producing cigarettes for Philip Morris International (PMI).
In an interview with InfoMarket, the operating director for Philip Morris production in Ukraine, the Caucasus and Moldova, Serkan Sagdic, said that production began in mid-December with Bond Street cigarette brands. In April 2024, the plant will begin producing L&M and Chesterfield brands. Next, the company is potentially considering the release of premium brands Parliament and Marlboro: a total of 13 types of cigarettes, including thin ones. Serkan Sagdic also said that tobacco for production in Moldova is imported from a factory in Poland, and related materials are imported from other factories in Europe. “The quality of products produced in Moldova under the PMI brand is no different from the quality of products produced at other factories,” said Serkan Sagdic. According to the project, the first order is 200 million cigarettes. The total annual sales volume of PMI in Moldova is 900 million cigarettes. In the future, the production capacity of Tutun-CTC allows increasing production volumes to 1 billion cigarettes per year, which potentially makes it possible to establish exports. At the same time, in accordance with PMI practices, part of the products is still imported in order to saturate the market with the entire range of the company’s products. Speaking about production at Tutun-CTS, Serkan Sagdić confirmed that Philip Morris plans to invest 3 million US dollars. These funds are aimed at purchasing machines for checking product quality, including a “track and trace” system for tracking tobacco products, but, above all, to improve the qualifications of the plant’s personnel. “Philip Morris is proud to have opened production in Moldova. And if we start such a partnership, it is always long-term. There are countries in which we have been working for 15-20 years. For Tutun-CTC, this is also an opportunity to raise quality standards, occupational safety and operational processes to the high international level applied in PMI,” said the operating director for Philip Morris production in Ukraine, the Caucasus and Moldova. Answering the question why PMI did not open its own production, but entered into an agreement with a partner, he said that this is practiced by the company at 31 factories around the world in small countries where the market size makes such investments economically unfeasible. This was also made possible due to the growth of the market share of Philip Morris International (PMI) in Moldova, which in 2023 grew by 7 percentage points, amounting to more than 40%. Speaking about the Ukrainian market, Serkan Sagdic noted that PMI was forced to close a large production facility in the Kharkov region, while equipment and raw materials remain there. This plant provided the needs not only of Ukraine, but also of Moldova, as well as a number of other countries. Currently, the production of PMI products in Ukraine is carried out at the leased facilities of the Imperial Tobacco company in Kyiv. But PMI has already planned to invest $30 million in launching new production at its plant in the Lviv region. When asked what Moldova’s chances would have been to obtain PMI production if not for the war in Ukraine, Serkan Sagdic replied that they would have been minimal. However, the company is currently proud of its cooperation with Tutun-CTC and the fact that thanks to this, a new production facility has been organized in Moldova. “I hope that in the future we will be able to expand our work with Tutun-CTC, increase production volumes and ensure the export of products from Moldova,” emphasized PMI’s operating director for Ukraine and Moldova. //29.12.2023 - InfoMarket.
