Coca-Cola is still widely available and is imported from neighboring countries, Georgia and Kazakhstan.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, more than a thousand transnational corporations have announced that they are reducing their activities in Russia. However, many of them remain in various forms, notably Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Bloomberg reported this on Tuesday, June 18.
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The Coca-Cola Company was one of the first multinational corporations to pledge to leave Russia in protest. To avoid the consequences of the announced sanctions in the West, Coca-Cola asked its partners to remove cans and bottles from stores, as well as to stop giving syrup to soda fountains and stop making drink.
However, two years later, Coca-Cola was easily found in supermarkets and restaurants across the country under the name “Good Cola”. Coca-Cola, by some indicators, remains the leading producer of carbonated drinks in Russia.
That’s because Multon Partners, the country’s Coca-Cola maker, owns a separate company, Coca-Cola HBC, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, where the US parent company holds 21% stake. When the HBC stopped producing Coca-Cola after the invasion, Multon introduced “Good Cola”.
Coca-Cola itself is still widely available, imported from neighboring countries such as Georgia and Kazakhstan. After the invasion, these imports alone pushed Coca-Cola to third place in the ranking of carbonated drinks in Russia, with 6% of the market.
Although Coca-Cola’s volumes in Russia grew by 12% last year, they remained nearly a third below 2021 levels, when Coca-Cola was the best-selling soft drink with 26 % of the market.
PepsiCo Inc. in September 2022, it said it stopped making and selling Pepsi, Mountain Dew and 7Up there, and its market share declined. But Pepsi soon added a new round of Evervess and increased production of the Frustyle drink at its factories in the country. Beverage sales at the Russian unit jumped 12% last year to 209 billion rubles ($2.3 billion), according to local tax reports. Revenue from the business of baby food and dairy products grew by 10% last year, to RUB 129 billion.
As of 2022, more than 1,000 multinational corporations have said they are reducing their operations in Russia, but many remain, according to a study by the Yale School of Management.
Unilever Plc and Nestlé SA, which have large production capacities there, did not want to sell their businesses at a huge discount, which the Kremlin demanded as an exit tax. The assets of Danish brewer Carlsberg AS and yoghurt giant Danone SA were seized as they tried to exit, although Danone eventually negotiated a government-favored sale of the company.
French supermarket operator Auchan, clothing retailer Benetton Group and restaurant chains Subway and TGI Fridays continue to operate in Russia with no apparent plans to scale back.
For companies still in the country, repatriating profits is a challenge as they struggle to get permission to export currency.
As we have already written, the Russian division of Coca-Cola has quadrupled its profits in the past year. The company continues to make a lot of money in the country, hiding under another name – Good Cola.
Board of shame. Which brands remain operational in the Russian Federation?
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Source: korrespondent
I’m Liza Grey, an experienced news writer and author at the Buna Times. I specialize in writing about economic issues, with a focus on uncovering stories that have a positive impact on society. With over seven years of experience in the news industry, I am highly knowledgeable about current events and the ways in which they affect our daily lives.