Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas facts for kids
Company shipping line house flag
|
|
.JPG)
The original headquarters in Barcelona, Spain
|
|
| Sociedad Anónima | |
| Industry | Tobacco Liquor Sugar Transportation |
| Founded | 1881 |
| Founder | Antonio López, 1st Marquess of Comillas |
| Headquarters | Manila, Philippines |
|
Key people
|
Manuel Meler (Chairman) |
|
Number of employees
|
104,000 (1898) |
The Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas, S.A. (which means General Tobacco Company of the Philippines), often called CdF, was a very important Spanish company. It was one of the biggest businesses in the world in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was also the first private tobacco company in the Philippines.
A person named Antonio López y López, who was the 1st Marquess of Comillas, started the company in Barcelona, Spain, in 1881. Its main office was in Manila, Philippines. In Spain, people often called it Tabacos de Filipinas. In the Philippines, it was known as La Tabacalera.
Even though the company mainly sells tobacco today, it used to do many other things. It had its own shipping line to move goods and people. It also built factories to grow, trade, and make tobacco products from the Philippines. The company also worked with sugar, alcohol, copra (dried coconut meat), abacá (a strong plant fiber), and maguey (another plant fiber). It even owned parts of companies that made electricity, transported goods, and offered insurance.
Spanish owners controlled the Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas for most of its history. However, the company faced difficulties between the 1950s and 1990s. During this time, it sold most of its other businesses in the Philippines. It decided to focus only on trading tobacco around the world. In 2007, it joined with a Dutch tobacco trading company called Lippoel Leaf. Together, they formed the CdF International Group. Then, in 2011, CdF merged again with an American tobacco trading company called Hail & Cotton. The original company still exists today as a part of this larger group in the Philippines.
What the Company Did
The Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas was involved in many different activities:
- It grew and sold tobacco products.
- It operated ships to transport goods and passengers across oceans.
- Starting in 1892, it began trading forest products like timber.
- From 1893, it started making and selling sugar and alcohol.
- It produced copra, which comes from coconuts.
- It made abacá fiber, also known as 'Manila hemp', which is used for ropes and fabrics.
- It also produced maguey fiber, another strong plant fiber.
Where the Company Operated
The company sold its products in three main areas:
- The Spanish market, which included Spain itself.
- The European market, trading with countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal.
- The Philippines, and other parts of Asia and Oceania.
Company's Legacy
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines placed a special marker in Manila in 1951. This marker praised the company for its important role in helping the Philippines' economy grow. It also noted that the company treated its workers fairly. The marker mentioned that rebuilding the company's main office after World War II showed how the company became important again for the country's progress. The Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas is also known for collecting a very large number of books and documents about the Philippines. This collection was later bought by the Philippine Government.
See also
In Spanish: Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas para niños
- 1929 Barcelona International Exposition
- Compañía Transatlántica Española
- Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas v. Collector of Internal Revenue
