Swedish Match is about to inaugurate a $100 million expansion of its smokeless tobacco factory in Owensboro, Kentucky, USA, reports The Messenger-Inquirer.
On Monday, the company will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Scheduled to attend are senior company officials, along with U.S. Representative Brett Guthrie, State Representative Suzanne Miles, State Senator Matt Castlen, Mayor Tom Watson, Judge-Executive Al Mattingly and Timothy Gillam-Field, a representative for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The core of the expansion was a 16,000-square-foot production area for the company’s new tobacco-free nicotine pouch, Zyn.
The company said in 2017 that the plant would also be expanded by 34,000 square feet.
Prior to the national launch of Zyn on April 1, Zyn was first introduced in a limited number of retail stores in Colorado, and later expanded to 11 Western states.
Swedish Match’s snus and nicotine pouches segment outside Scandinavia “reached profitability in 2018 on the back of ‘extraordinary’ Zyn volume growth and significantly lower marketing spend on snus in the United States.”
The Owensboro plant also produces Timber Wolf, Longhorn and Red Man brands of moist snuff and Red Man, Southern Pride, J.D.’s Blend and Granger Select chewing tobacco.