Tobacco Asia

46 tobaccoasia MANUFACTURING NEWS 制造新闻 Filtrona launches Center of Excellence Filtrona, the independent global market leader in the design, testing, and manufacturing of special filter solutions, tear tapes, and related scientific services, opened a new Center of Excellence (COE) in Budapest, Hungary. Combining multiple advanced filter manufacturing machines, the COE will increase its production capacity and speed-to-market of sustainable filter solutions. The COE enables tobacco companies to develop and manufacture a portfolio of sustainable tobacco products by leveraging Filtrona's expertise in innovative filter designs, processing methods, and knowledge of materials. The COE combines Filtrona's extensive experience in manufacturing non-woven filters with advanced, high-speed production technology and the latest testing methods to produce sustainable filters for various tobacco product applications. These include cigarettes, heated tobacco products, cigarillos, cigars, and RYO and MYO cigarettes. Globally, consumers and regulators are pushing for more environmentally sustainable solutions for consumer goods. Likewise, the tobacco industry is seeking plastic-free alterna- tives by focusing on the use of wood pulp based non-woven materials, such as papers. The (European Union Single-Use Plastic Directive (EU SUPD) provides a roadmap for the phasing-out of single-use plastics, which includes cellulose acetate tow. Using the EU Directive as a blueprint, tobacco companies in territories outside the EU are expected to follow a similar path in reducing single-use plastics over time. Hugo Azinheira, global director of innovation and ESG at Filtrona said, "As the world's leading producer of sustainable filter solutions, Filtrona is advancing our sustainability journey by launching our Center of Excellence to expand our portfolio of sustainable products at a faster pace. With the EU SUPD driving a wider adoption of plastic-free tobacco products, our new production line has the capability to meet the evolving needs of customers, consumers, and regulators rapidly." Filtrona is committed to developing alternative filter solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of the filters it produces. The company continues to develop its ECO Range filters such as the recently launched ECO Tube Triple Carbon Filter, a plastic-free option constructed using a sustainable tube and active paper carbon for accelerated biodegradation. Tabaterra and JTI Expand Production Azerbaijan's Tabaterra will be manufacturing Japan Tobacco International's (JTI) global brands and exporting them to Georgia. Under this partnership, Tabaterra will produced renowned JTI brands such as Sobranie, Winston, and Camel. This is a significant milestone in the expansion of production capabilities for JTI brands in Azerbaijan. The director of Tabaterra CJSC, Elman Javanshir, ex- pressed satisfaction with the partnership and emphasized the benefits that it will have for Azerbaijan's economy. He noted that the export deal will support domestic industry and add about US$13 million annually to the country's foreign ex- change flow while fostering local production. The export arrangement serves as vital for JTI in strength- ening their position in the Georgian market, according to Sergey Buksa, the company's general director for Belarus and the Caucasus region. Buksa expressed confidence in Tabat- erra's expertise and production capacities, saying the partner- ship will make JTI's international brands more quickly available in Georgia by having them produced in Azerbaijan. Addition- ally, he believes that this agreement will help encourage increased trade turnover between Georgia and Azerbaijan. Manufacturing Permits Canceled in Philippines Two cigarette manufacturing companies' licenses to operate in the Philippines' Subic Freeport Zone have been revoked by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) due to a number of violations. BIR said OneSubic Premier Manufacturing Corp. and Hongsim International Corp., both of which are situated at C-3 Warehouse, Subic Gateway Park, Phase II, received mission orders from a BIR team headed by commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. The two companies presented their licenses to engage in cigarette manufacturing. However, upon inspecting the warehouses the BIR team found that the companies were carrying out unregistered activities such as printing unregis- tered foreign cigarette brands and packaging boxes without first registering with BIR. Lumagui said the companies were in violation of the tax revenue code as the cigarette brands and the manufacturing equipment were not registered, and that these violators were causing the government to lose hundreds of billions of pesos in tax revenue which was intended for social welfare and healthcare services. The BIR team locked the warehouses s and took stock of the machinery for printing cigarette boxes, raw materials, and other finished products. Cigarette Manufacturing Drops in Pakistan Pakistan's cigarette production dropped 24% in the first quarter this year to 11.74 billion sticks, 3.7 billion lower than the same period last year, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). With the exception of FY20, when cigarette production was at the same level as it was during the same period in the previous year, 1QCY23 had some of the lowest levels of cigarette production since 1QFY18. In addition, the number of cigarettes sticks produced in the formal sector decreased by 9% in 1QCY23 compared to 4QCY22.With weakest volumes in March 2023, monthly output in 1QCY23 averaged 3.9 billion sticks, falling short of the monthly capacity of over 5 billion sticks. Filtrona's new Center of Excellence in Hungary will increase production capacity and speed. Photo credit: Filtrona

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