Kellogg Maintains Presence in Russia Despite Ukraine Crisis
Kellogg has decided to keep operating in Russia, with the US giant to manufacture “staple foods” in the country.
Like a number of its multinational peers, Kellogg is to maintain some form of production in the country in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
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“We have already suspended all shipments, including our Pringles brand, and investments into Russia,” a spokesperson for Kellogg told Just Food.
“Mindful of our duty to care for our Russian employees and mindful of not contributing to the worsening global food security crisis, we have significantly reduced our Russian product portfolio to produce essential staple foods locally for local people.”
Kellogg’s employ around 1,600 employees in Russia and operates three plants – in the western city of Pskov, in Vyazma further south and in Voronezh, another 400 miles south. The sites make what the spokesperson said are “Russian-branded, essential staple foods including cereal and biscuits”.
Russia represents just over 1% of Kellogg’s business. In 2021, the company generated net sales worldwide of US$14.18bn.
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By GlobalDataAs this week has progressed, there has been a wave of announcements from some of the world’s largest food companies that operate in Russia.
Kellogg made no specific mention of its business in Russia when it reported its full-year financial results for 2021 last month.
However, it reflected on the “strong growth” it had seen in the third quarter of last year when it booked numbers for that period in October.
Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, Danone, Mars and Mondelez International are among those to have announced they will suspend their investment in Russia but maintain the manufacturing and sale of certain food products.
Others have decided to stop operations in Russia. On Monday (7 March), Arla Foods said it had “initiated preparations to suspend its business in Russia”, a move that would “cover both its local operations and imports”.
Today, Norway-based food group Orkla followed in the footsteps of its Scandinavian peers Valio and Fazer by pulling the plug on its Russian operations.
