14 October 2008 - Unilever is planning to invest 100 million euro over the next five years in the construction of a new plant in the Russian city of Tula. The investment is described as "one of the single biggest Unilever has made in Central and Eastern Europe".
The new facility will be dedicated to producing some of Unilever's best-selling products in the Russian market.
It will produce ice cream for the domestic market (valued at 1 billion euro in size) under the Ekzo, Magnat, San-Cremo, Torzestvo brands.
The Tula plant will also manufacture dressings under the Becel and Calvé brands, ingredients for other foods brands like Knorr, as well as provide packaging facilities for the Brooke Bond, Beseda, and Lipton tea brands.
Tula will be a complimentary plant to Unilever's existing network of sites in St Petersburg, Moscow, Omsk, Novosibirsk and Tula itself, and will provide products primarily for the Russian market, but also for export to the rest of Central and Eastern Europe.
Sanjiv Kakkar, Chairman Unilever Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, commented: "With over 140 million consumers, Russia is one of our fastest growing markets and is a priority country for Unilever. We have already invested over €500 million in our business here and we continue to invest disproportionately. This latest commitment is another important step to strengthen our sales and manufacturing position".
The Tula investment is expected to generate some 400 new jobs and follows Unilever's 50 million euro investment in its St Petersburg facility to improve tea production, as well as the February acquisition of the Russian ice cream producer InMarko.
Unilever has been operating in Russia since 1992. The firm has 7 manufacturing and production sites: Moscow (spreads and crème bonjour), St. Petersburg (home care, personal care and tea), Tula (dressings, savory, food ingredients) and ice cream production plants in Tula, Novosibirsk and Omsk, as well as over 160 representative offices across the country.
The company's food brand portfolio in Russia includes: Beseda, Becel, Brooke Bond, Calvé, Knorr, and Lipton. Thanks to the acquisition of InMarko, Unilever Russia's portfolio also includes the Ekzo, Magnat, San- Cremo, Torzestvo ice cream brands, amongst others.
Unilever has invested more than RUR 21.5 billion (close to 600 million euro) in its business and now employs more than 6,500 people.
Russia has some of the biggest mayonnaise and tea markets in the world (estimated at 1 billion euro and 1.3 billion euro respectively) in both of which Unilever has strong positions.