The management of Philip Morris International called on European leaders to contribute to the appropriate regulatory framework to attract investment during the presentation of a study on the economic footprint of PMI in the European economy in the period 2019-2023.
As the multinational tobacco industry pointed out, “the EU must adopt a sense of urgency for the future and accelerate innovation and empower human resources” and as new regulations are being formulated, it calls on “EU institutions to cooperate constructively with companies that invest in research and development.”
Greece stands out among the countries in Europe where Philip Morris International’s economic footprint has been recorded. PMI’s heated tobacco product exports exceeded 400 million euros in value, and as the company emphasized, they exceeded 50% of the value of Greek feta cheese exports, which was 735 million euros.
Greece is also among the four countries with the largest PMI expenditures on the tobacco leaf market, which amounted to 125.5 million euros, second only to Italy, followed by Poland and Spain.
In addition, in Greece, PMI has offered 111 internship positions from 2019 to 2023. At the same time, it trained a total of 1,585 employees outside PMI, for a total investment of 408.2 thousand euros.
New phase of expansion
The development plan of Papastratos, a subsidiary of PMI in Greece, includes the new phase of expansion of the factory in Aspropyrgos, which is the fourth since its initial transformation in 2017. It concerns the construction of a new production line building, a new modern warehouse and the installation of 4 new heated tobacco rod production lines and a tobacco processing line. The new investment will have a total value of 200 million euros.
According to the company, this investment, which will be accompanied by an increase in production capacity, thanks to modern equipment and continuous investment in human resources, will give further impetus to the company’s extroversion and exports, which are a strategic goal of Papastratos. This is an investment that creates a strong protection net amid rapid international changes. The company’s goal with the new investments is to increase exports from 400 million euros to 600 million euros in the coming years.
