Philip Morris Korea said on Wednesday that locally-produced tobacco sticks for its heated-tobacco devices would be on the shelves of South Korea’s stores ‘within the year’, according to a Yonhap News Agency story.
The company said Heets would be produced at its factory in Yangsan, 420 km southeast of Seoul. The factory would be the first facility in Asia to manufacture tobacco sticks for IQOS.
In December, PM Korea said it planned to invest US$420 million by 2019 to expand its local facilities and hire 700 new employees.
The story said that increasing numbers of South Korean smokers were switching to smoke-free products following the launch of IQOS on the domestic market in June 2017.
The share of Heets on the all-cigarettes market was reportedly 7.3 percent during the first quarter of the year, placing it within the top five tobacco brands in the country.
“I am pleased to see that our vision to replace cigarettes with science-based smoke-free products is becoming a reality in Korea at an unprecedented speed,” said Chong Il-woo, PM Korea’s MD, during a press conference in Seoul.
But all is not well. The company expressed concern after the government unveiled its plan to adopt pictorial health warnings for heated-tobacco products, starting at the end of the year.
“The proposed warnings are inappropriate and misleading; not only would they confuse current heated-tobacco product users, but they would also have a negative impact on those adult smokers considering switching to better alternatives,” said Nikolaus Ricketts, director of Reduced Risk Products.
Local Heets to go on sale
