Japan Tobacco (JT) plans to close manufacturing facilities in Northern Ireland and Belgium within four years due in part to stricter packaging standards imposed by the European Union, the company said.

“This proposal would affect approximately 1,100 full-time jobs across the EU”, JT said. Lisnafillan factory, located in Ballymena, County Antrim, and a factory in Wervik, Belgium could be closed between between 2016 and 2018. Production of other tobacco products (OTP) would be curtailed at a plant in Trier, Germany, with the exception of manufacturing related to the Ploom heat-not-burn product that Japan Tobacco International markets under license outside the US.
Production from the closed plants would be shifted to other locations, possibly in Poland and Romania. German OTP production would be shifted to a location JT did not name. Restructuring plans will be finalized after talks with works councils at the affected sites and the European Works Council, JT said.
“The prolonged challenging economic environment and excise-tax pressure has triggered industry volume contraction in a number of key European countries. This is compounded by the need to comply with legislation, including the revised EU Tobacco Products Directive, which will significantly reduce the number of pack formats to be produced for various markets”, JT said.
Ballymena’s annual cigarette production is 19 billion sticks. The plant makes Benson & Hedges, Silk Cut and Amber Leaf. Its RYO. Pipe tobacco production is about 7,100 tons and the site produced 120 million cigars in 2013. Wervik is an RYO/MYO plant that manufactures about 4,400 tons of RYO/MYO products, including Fleur du Pays and Domingo. MYO production at Trier in 2013 was about 4,500 tons.