Why did a philip morris plant shut?
About 1,000 employees will lose their jobs as a huge Philip Morris USA cigarette plant closes in Concord. The Charlotte Observer reported that the plant was to stop production about 9 p.m. Wednesday. Philip Morris’ parent company, Altria, said in 2007 it would consolidate its Concord operations at its Richmond, Va., plant in 2010 because of falling U.S. cigarette sales. But Altria said in April it would wrap up operations this month because of a continued drop in sales. Cabarrus County’s jobless rate was approaching 12 percent in June, the highest rate in at least 25 years. Philip Morris is the county’s biggest taxpayer. Concord Mayor Scott Padgett says he doesn’t know how to replace a company as large as Philip Morris. It’s unclear when a new owner might be found for the 2,000-acre site. Information from The Charlotte Observer. Sources: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/29/national/main5
Tobacco plant to close in North Carolina Published: July 29, 2009 at 4:30 PM It is the end of an era in Cabarrus County, N.C., where Altria is closing a cigarette factory that once employed 2,500 workers. Declining cigarette sales has prompted Altria, parent company to Philip Morris, to close the sprawling, 2,023 acre production site, the company said. The Concord plant will close down Wednesday at 9:30 p.m., the Charlotte Observer reported. Once Cabarrus County’s largest taxpayer, the closure will displace the remaining 1,000 workers, at the plant, some of whom will find work at the company’s plant in Richmond, Va. Cigarette sales dropped 24 percent from 1996 to 2006, the newspaper said. “For all my life, we referred to ‘King Tobacco,’ and that’s no longer the case in North Carolina,” Concord Mayor Scott Padgett said. Sources: http://www.upi.
