The last remaining factory making cigarettes in France is due to close by the end of the year, employees were told by the site’s owner, reports AFP.

The Manufacture Corse des Tabacs (Macotab), located on the island of Corsica, produces cigarettes for Philip Morris, which recently decided to end the contract.
The factory owner SEITA, which used to have the monopoly in France, already shut down its tobacco processing factory in the Dordogne in 2019 and indicated that growing illegal sales are partially to blame for the end of tobacco making in France.
According to AFP, another factor for cigarettes sales going down in recent years are efforts by authorities to curb smoking in recent years by prohibiting smoking in restaurants and cafes and a ban on cigarette advertising.
Currently, the Manufacture Corse des Tabacs employs 30 workers, down from 143 in the company’s heyday in the early 1980s.
The bulk of European production is now conducted in Germany and Poland, reports AFP.