Japan Tobacco today announced that it will close its cigarette manufacturing factory in Hainburg, Austria, between the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012.

The closure of the factory, with an annual production capacitiy of approximately 10 billion cigarettes – mainly of the brands Benson & Hedges and Memphis – will increase the efficiency of JT's international tobacco business, says the company.
About 320 jobs will be lost, both at the factory and in Vienna, where some administrative functions are also to be rationalized.
Japan Tobacco says it examines the transfer of some of the manufacturing capability to other factories in the European Union, such as to the Gostkow factory in Poland and to the Bucharest factory in Romania. (ci)