Philip Morris International (PMI) on Tuesday announced an investment of $600 million (£461m) over the next two years to open a manufacturing facility in Colorado, US to produce Zyn nicotine pouches to help meet the growing global demand.
Zyn has seen it popularity surging in the US in the past year, and retailers are currently facing a shortage of the product as the company is unable to meet the demand.
“PMI and its US affiliates are accelerating their mission to move adults who smoke away from cigarettes in the US by investing in new US manufacturing capacity to meet the increasing demand for nicotine options that are scientifically substantiated as better alternatives,” said PMI Americas president and US chief executive Stacey Kennedy.
PMI’s US affiliate plans to break ground on the new facility in Aurora later this year and to begin preliminary operations by the end of 2025 with regular production starting in 2026. The facility is expected to create 500 direct jobs and an additional 1,000 indirect jobs.
As previously announced, Swedish Match North America is also currently working to increase Zyn oral nicotine pouch production at its Owensboro, Kentucky facility. Ongoing investments in both Owensboro and Aurora are designed to provide sufficient capacity in the near and mid-term for the current adoption growth rate of Zyn with US adult nicotine consumers, as well as capacity for exports.
PMI first entered the US market following its acquisition of Swedish Match in late 2022. Swedish Match’s Zyn oral nicotine pouches have been on the market in the US for more than a decade.
