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SUBIC
BAY FREE PORT—Philip Morris International (PMI), in
ceremonies here, announced its plan to make the
Philippines its regional center for the transshipment of
tobacco leaf by putting up a P1-billion warehousing
facility inside the free port next year.
Philippine subsidiary chief executive Chris J. Nelson
said the Philippines bested Singapore and Malaysia for
the investment after the company saw Subic’s advantages
in cost and efficiency.
Nelson
said they are now in the planning stage for the new
“purpose-built warehouse” and aim to have it
commissioned by next year.
On
Monday PMI inaugurated its temporary warehouse in
Subic’s Boton area, which has the capacity to store
6,100 metric tons. The company spent P30 million to
refurbish the 10,000-square-meter warehouse, which will
be on full capacity by March.
The
planned P1-billion warehouse, on the other hand, will
have a capacity of 24,000 metric tons of tobacco, which
will come from PMI suppliers in Indonesia, Thailand and
India, among others.
The
tobacco leaf will then be shipped and processed to
cigarette-manufacturing facilities in the
Philippines,
Malaysia and Indonesia. “The Philip Morris Subic
warehouse also supports PMI’s strategy to increase
tobacco purchases not only from the Philippines but also
from other Asian countries.”
PMI, a
part of the Altria Group Inc., has a 15-percent share of
the global adult smoking market (excluding
China).
It also exports cutfillers (processed tobacco leaf) to
South Korea.
In the
Philippines, PMI brands such as Marlboro, Philip Morris,
Bowling Gold, Stork and Miller are manufactured in the
firm’s $300-million facility in Tanauan, Batangas.
Dave
Gomez, public affairs and communications manager, said
there is no plan yet to expand the Tanauan plant since
it is still not running on full capacity.
The
Tanauan plant produced 32 billion sticks of cigarettes
last year, with 25 percent of them going to
Thailand
and the rest sold here. Gomez said the tobacco leaves
they purchase in La Union, Isabela, and Ilocos go
directly to the Tanauan plant.
Sen.
Richard Gordon, who joined the rites, said the entry of
a global brand like PMI into Subic made the Subic-Clark
area more attractive as a logistics center and it will
greatly increase the cargo traffic.
He said
the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway—to be opened in
March—will make Subic and Clark a virtual single
manufacturing hub with multiple airports and ports. |
