General Tobacco to open manufacturing facility in N.C.

Vidal Suriel, founder and president of Miami-based General Tobacco (GT), announced June 25 that the company will open a new manufacturing facility in Rockingham County, located in Mayodan, N.C. The new facility will replace the current manufacturing facility located in Colombia.

“The entire General Tobacco team is very excited about the new manufacturing plant and pleased to receive so much support from the community in North Carolina,” said Suriel. “The assistance GT has been given by Governor Mike Easley and the state of North Carolina as well as the city of Mayodan and Rockingham County has been overwhelming.”

“North Carolina has always been a leader in tobacco-industry economics. General Tobacco is very pleased to open a state-of-the-art facility in a region that is suited to our needs and long term goals,” said J. Ronald Denman, executive vice president and general counsel for General Tobacco.

The new facility will be located in the former Unifi building located on South Ayersville Road and will create a significant number of new jobs. Within the next three years, General Tobacco will invest as much as $50 million into the business and the community.

With the support of the One North Carolina Fund, General Tobacco hopes to be operating in the next 12 months. The fund assists the state in industry recruitment and expansion by providing financial assistance through local governments to attract business projects that will stimulate economic activity and create new jobs in the state.

General Tobacco products include GT One, Bronco, Silver, 32 Degrees menthol cigarettes and Vaquero Little Cigars. General Tobacco is the sixth-largest tobacco company in the nation, with approximately $300 million in annual sales.