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Tobacco giant Philip Morris announced the closure of its only Australian manufacturing plant yesterday, with the loss of 180 jobs.
The firm, which makes the Marlboro brand, said its cigarette factory at Moorabbin in Victoria would close by the end of 2014 after six decades of operation.
This is the latest blow to the Australian manufacturing sector after the country’s car manufacturers Ford, Toyota and GM Holden all announced their plants would close with an estimated 50,000 job losses in the sector.
Philip Morris Australasian managing director John Gledhill said production would be moved to South Korea.
“With any significant export opportunity restricted by Australian government regulations, our Moorabbin factory is significantly underutilised,” he claimed.
The closure announcement came on the same day that BP Australia said its Bulwar Island refinery in Brisbane would shut down in 2015 at a cost of 380 jobs.
