Philip Morris International Inc. ("PMI") announced an investment of up to €500 million into its first manufacturing facility in the European Union and an associated pilot plant near Bologna, Italy to produce its potentially reduced-risk tobacco products. Once fully operational, the factory and pilot plant combined annual production capacity is expected to reach up to 30 billion units by 2016.

"The development and commercialization of reduced-risk products represents a significant step toward achieving the public health objective of harm reduction, a potential paradigm shift for the industry, and an important growth opportunity for PMI. This first factory investment is a milestone in our roadmap toward making these products available to adult smokers," said André Calantzopoulos, PMI's Chief Executive Officer.

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Source: http://www.newswit.com/