Philip Morris International plans to invest EUR 490 million (USD 571 million) to convert a factory near the Romanian capital Bucharest from cigarette production to making Heets tobacco sticks for its IQOS heating device, PMI said.

Work in Otopeni has begun and the factory should be fully operational by 2020, PMI said. About 300 jobs would be created at the plant which currently employs 600 people.
Conversion plans at Otopeni factory come after PMI earlier in July announced construction of two Heets production lines in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. In June said it would invest EUR 500 million to expand Heets production in Italy and USD 320 million to build a Heets factory in Germany. PMI is converting plants in Greece and Russia to meet increasing demand for its tobacco heating device, a reduced-risk product on which PMI has staked its goal to get out of the cigarette business.
“Our investment in Romania further demonstrates our commitment to a future in which smoke-free products ultimately replace cigarettes. We are encouraged by the 2.9 million smokers around the world who have already given up smoking and switched to IQOS. We expect this momentum to continue,” said PMI Chief Executive Officer André Calantzopoulos. PMI is aiming for a Heets annual production capacity of 100 billion sticks by the end of 2018.