Global tobacco giant Philip Morris International has reportedly transferred some of its production from other plants in Europe to the unit of its Greek subsidiary Papastratos at Aspropyrgos, western Attica.
The newspaper Kathimerini reported that the Chairman and CEO of Papastratos, Nikitas Theofilopoulos, who heads Greece’s biggest tobacco industry, revealed the news while opening a new production line, conducted by Deputy Development Minister Notis Mitarakis.
Philip Morris is the second multinational firm to shift part of its production to Greece, after Unilever, in a move that also serves to boost the local subsidiary considerably. The plant inaugurated on Dec. 12 constitutes a three million euro investment to be completed by the end of the month, with output to be exported to 15 countries. Mitarakis stated that in coming years new jobs will come from the private sector, adding that important investments such as that by Papastratos bring hope for the economy.
He also said that authorities had confiscated 1.5 million packs of smuggled cigarettes last week. The tobacco industry has also decided to restructure its distribution network in Attica, Thessaloniki and Patra, by appointing exclusive distributors in those areas in order to secure the optimum presence of its products at the points of sale and the sustainability of the traditional retail trade, which has been suffering in the last few years.
Papastratos says it has contributed 1.4 billion euros to public revenues from tobacco taxes, corresponding to 4% of the country’s total revenues. Philip Morris buys more than 50% of the Greek tobacco production, supporting over 12,000 local tobacco farmers. There was no mention of the costs of health care for smokers afflicted with cancer and other diseases.
(Source: ANSA)
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