4 May 2007 - Some retail chains in Russia have announced that they will stop selling the Kalev Chocolate Factory's products in their stores, but no jobs are jeopardized.
Russia accounts for a couple percentages of the total sales of the company and less than a third of all exports. In 2007, around 70 tons of products were shipped to Russia, mostly sugar- and chocolate confectionary products. Ms Kati Kusmin, Chairman of the Management Board of AS Kalev Chocolate Factory said that Kalev has made strategically sound decisions to focus on the Baltic markets. "The Russian crisis of 1998 taught us first and foremost that Estonian food producers should not take on significant risks in that market and this strategy has proven to be right in the light of current developments. We are talking about loss of potential sales, but we are putting our hopes on our loyal consumers in the Baltic and in Finland," said Kusmin. According to her, the disruption of sales to Russia will not significantly hamper the economic performance of Kalev. "The topic is hot, emotions high and therefore the massive headlines. Incidentally it's important to highlight that not a single job at Kalev is jeopardized due to the developments," said Kusmin.
According to AS Kalev Chocolate Factory's manager of the export sales group Ms Mai Nuudi the share of Russian sales in the overall turnover of the company is small, but still it counts as an important export market. "We have thus far considered the Russian market as fast developing, with major opportunities and threats, where we could sell out our spare producing capacity. Due to the price level of competing products and the customs duties, Russia is not a very attractive market in terms of making a profit, but it could be in the future. To forge a road into the market, it is important to establish a presence already today and to grow along with the retail sector there."
The consolidated group of AS Kalev recorded a turnover of over EUR 56 million in the financial year 2005/2006, the company employs 790 people.