Reynolds American (RAI) plans to expand its manufacturer of smokeless tobacco and close two cigarette plants in a move that reflects shifting US consumption patterns, reports the Wall Street Journal.

RAI’s largest subsidiary, RJ Reynolds, will close cigarette factories in Winston-Salem and Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, over the next year and transfer production from those older plants to its largest and newest cigarette factory in Tobaccoville, NC. The company said the moves would result in the elimination of 60 manufacturing jobs in Yabucoa. The Winston-Salem jobs will be absorbed at the Tobaccoville plant. The company also said its American Snuff Company unit, which makes Grizzly and Kodiak moist snuff, had begun renovating a manufacturing facility it acquired in Memphis, Tennessee, which would replace its current plant there in 2012. The unit also plans to open a facility in Clarksville, Tennessee, to increase its processing capacity. The changes are the latest response by Reynolds to rising sales of smokeless tobacco, while US cigarette sales continue to decline amid increasing indoor-smoking bans and various tax increases. Reynolds bought American Snuff in 2006 and has introduced an array of smokeless tobacco products. (pi)