Philip Morris International is adopting a new leaf buying model in the United States. The company will transition from directly purchasing tobacco through contracts with U.S. growers to purchasing through two suppliers, Alliance One International Inc. (AOI) and Universal Corp. This new purchasing model will take effect on April 1, 2015.
“Moving to a new system for leaf purchasing in the U.S. will help us achieve important supply chain efficiencies while remaining a major purchaser of U.S. grown tobacco,” said Nicolas Denis, vice-president leaf, PMI.
“While we are changing our approach to buying tobacco in the U.S., PMI’s commitment to improving farm labor conditions on the farms from which we source tobacco has not changed. We require our suppliers to adhere to our practices, principles and standards, including our leading Agricultural Labor Practices (ALP) program. Through supplying leaf to PMI in many markets around the world, AOI and Universal are key partners in our efforts to implement our ALP program on the farms where we source tobacco. With these new U.S. supply agreements even more U.S. tobacco growers will come under PMI’s ALP standards,” said Denis.
As a result of this transition, approximately 35 PMI employees based out of Richmond, Virginia, will be impacted.
“It is unfortunate that this decision will impact some of our employees and it is our priority to provide them with the best possible support and assistance during this transition,” said Denis.