PHILIP MORRIS UNIT TO SOURCE $120M PH TOBACCO

CITY—Cigarette manufacturer PMFTC Inc., the local affiliate of US-based Philip Morris International (PMI), wants to purchase more than $120 million (P6.8 billion) worth of locally produced tobacco this year.

PMI CEO Jacek Olczak said the company was considering utilizing tobacco cultivated in the Philippines for traditional cigarette and smoke-free products.

Olczak said the quality of the Philippine tobacco “is getting better and better.”

PMFTC is also thinking about using local tobacco for smoke-free products.

“They (smoke-free products) require even better quality, consistency, etc. But I believe the farmers, the tobacco growers in the Philippines can deliver that quality,” the executive said.

The company is also expanding its purchases of local tobacco to feed its growing capacity.

PMFTC inaugurated on Monday its $150-million facility in Tanauan City in Batangas province—the largest investment in the cigarette-alternative category nationwide—to bolster its capability to manufacture smoke-free products.

The state-of-the-art facility will house manufacturing lines to produce specially designed heated tobacco sticks under the brand Blends. The sticks are for the exclusive use of Bonds by Iqos.

Bonds by Iqos is a device that heats tobacco instead of burning it, delivering authentic tobacco taste without ash and less smell than cigarettes. The company said this device emits on average 95 percent lower levels of harmful chemicals compared with cigarettes.

According to Olczak, this expansion signified their “confidence in the Philippine economy and the local tobacco farming industry.”