E-Malt.com News article: Belarus & Russia: Spokesman denies Baltika brewery's investment plans for Belarus

Baltika Breweries has no plans to invest in purchase of facilities in Belarus, Aleksei Kedrin, a spokesman for the Russian company, told BelaPAN, Naviny reported December 3.

“It is not yet known whether such plans will appear in the future," he said.

Russia's news agency Interfax Zapad reported earlier with reference to Alyaksandr Lukashenka that Baltika Breweries intend to set up a plant in Belarus. It quoted the Belarusian leader as saying at a November 30 meeting with government officials that the company had long been trying to enter the Belarusian market "sideways without fulfilling investment conditions." He reportedly said, "Baltika is now ready to fulfil 37 conditions, not 30 as was the case once, if it is allowed to operate in our market."

Dmitry Kistev, the Russian company's export director, told reporters in Minsk on November 26 that Baltika does not yet plan to invest into the licensed production of beer in Belarus, unlike in Ukraine and the UK.

Baltika Breweries reportedly holds a 10-percent share in the Belarusian beer market. The company’s sales in the country are projected to total about five million decaliters this year, with the market accounting for 20 percent of Baltika Breweries’ exports, third only to Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

Baltika invested $10.7 million in the modernization of the Minsk-based Krynitsa brewery in 2001, hoping to acquire a controlling stake for about $50 million. The government, however, froze the deal in December 2001, but it was not until late May 2003 that it notified Baltika of the contract termination. Baltika announced readiness to pursue large investment projects in Belarus, signaling that the company looks beyond past disagreements with the Belarusian authorities.

Founded in 1990, Baltika Breweries is the largest brewery in Eastern Europe and the second largest brewery in Europe, exporting beer to 45 different countries.


05 December, 2007