China Tobacco Shaanxi Industrial Corporation (CTSIC) is partnering in Zimbabwe with local firm Pacific Cigarette Company (PCC) to manufacture cigarettes, according to a story in The Standard.
The partnership aims to produce a new line of cigarettes, called Acacia Series, that will use Zimbabwean tobacco and Chinese flavors initially to target mainly the large Chinese community resident in Zimbabwe but later the more-than one million Chinese people living throughout Africa.
CTSIC executive Bai Gang said the introduction of the Acacia range of cigarettes was an attempt to widen the company’s base.
Gang said his company was responding to a proposal by China National Tobacco Corporation for Chinese tobacco companies to co-operate with overseas tobacco businesses.
Meanwhile, the acting Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhao Baogang told journalists that local production of cigarettes would ease the burden on the Chinese community, which had been spending a lot of money to import tobacco products.
Local production would mean more value addition that would create jobs for Zimbabwe’s people, he added.
According to PCC Global CEO Yves le Boulenge, the partnership, the first to be signed between an African cigarette manufacturer and a state-owned Chinese tobacco company, would have a positive ripple effect on local tobacco production.
“Many people know that there is tobacco produced in Zimbabwe, but not many know that it is actually the best in the world, so this partnership will also help in elevating the image because we will be exporting,” he said.
Adding value in Zimbabwe
