Our history
We have been on the Czech market as Philip Morris ČR a.s. since 1992.
The former Cistercian monastery in Kutná Hora became the centre of tobacco production in the Czech lands. Cigarettes production began here in 1882, first by hand, later by machine. At the beginning of the 20th century, the plant in Kutná Hora was producing over 220 million cigarettes a year.
The first cigars were made here in 1844, and the hand rolling of cigarettes began thirty-eight years later.
Machine production of cigarettes commenced in 1896. In the first years, the production of cigarettes amounted to five million per year.
After machinery was installed, production grew multi fold, e.g. in 1902, production equaled more than 220 million cigarettes.
The production of filtered cigarettes commenced in 1963.
The representatives of Philip Morris International and of Československý tabákový průmysl Kutná Hora (Czechoslovak Tobacco Industry Kutná Hora) met and signed a license agreement on the production of the Marlboro brand, which was the first licensed product to be produced in the Kutná Hora plant.
Philip Morris International gained the majority of shares in the Tabák, a.s. state enterprise. The purchase of shares and investments amounting to a total of 420 million dollars represented the second largest foreign investment in Czechoslovakia in the 1990s, as well as the greatest American investment in Central Europe. Since then, the company has invested several billion crowns in the Czech Republic.
Between 2008 and 2010, the plant’s capacity was increased by one-third to 40 billion cigarettes per year. These investments amounted to 750 million crowns.
The modernization and expansion of production processes allowed the plant in Kutná Hora to take on the production of the plants in Hodonín, Nový Jičín, and Strážnice, where production was then terminated.