New production facility for Coca-Cola in Russia

Late last month, U.S. beverage giant Coca-Cola opened a new production facility in the Rostov region of Russia.  The facility is the largest for the Coca-Cola System in Russia and brings the total number of production facilities in the country to 17.  The $120 million plant has a production capacity of 450 million liters of beverage per year and will supply the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

An AFP article covering the facility’s opening quoted The Coca-Cola Company Chief Executive Muhtar Kent as saying the new facility “highlights our intention to put long-term investments in place within the Russian economy.”  According to the article, the company believes “that the Russian market, the Russian consumer, the Russian economy is going to grow, is going to be a dynamic – a very dynamic – environment.”  

To start, the new plant will employ 422 Russians, but the company expects it to expand and create additional jobs.  In addition to the new facility, The Coca-Cola Company and its bottling partner, Coca-Cola Hellenic, announced they will invest a further $3 billion in the Russian economy during the next five years.  

Coca-Cola was first sold in Russia in 1980, in the run-up to the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. In 1994, the country's first Coca Cola plant opened in Moscow. Today, the company has facilities in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Oryol, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Stavropol, Volzhsky, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Vladivostok.  Popular Coca-Cola products in Russia include Coke, Coca-Cola Light (Diet Coke), Fanta, Sprite and Nestea.

Additionally, Coca-Cola is a member of the Russia’s Foreign Investment Advisory Council, a group of international companies operating Russia to promote the country’s investment climate.  Other members of FIAC include 3M, Ernst & Young, Ford Motor Company, Intel, Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble and more.  

Photo Credit: The Coca-Cola Company