PepsiCo starts building snacks factory near Novosibirsk for 12 bln rubles
NOVOSIBIRSK. Sept 11 (Interfax) - PepsiCo has begun building its third snacks factory in Russia at the Industrial and Logistics Park outside of Novosibirsk, an Interfax correspondent reported from the foundation stone laying on Friday.
The new factory with capacity of more than 60,000 tonnes will produce Lay's chips and KhrustTeam sukhariki, a traditional Russian snack similar to croutons. The first two of four production lines are scheduled to open at the end of 2021.
Overall investment in the construction of the factor will total about 12 billion rubles.
The company plans to use potatoes grown in Novosibirsk Region, so the region is working on a special program to develop the resource base and storage facilities. A new variety of potato will be grown for the PepsiCo factory.
The region's agriculture minister, Yevgeny Leschenko told reporters that the factory will need 176,000 tonnes of potatoes annually.
Novosibirsk Region Governor Andrei Travnikov said several farms in the region are testing out growing potatoes according to "PepsiCos's strict requirements."
The first facility to be built at the site of the new factory will be a feedstock warehouse with capacity to store 50,000 tonnes of potatoes. It is scheduled for completion in August 2021.
The president of PepsiCo Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia, Neil Sturrock said the warehouse is needed due to the harsh weather conditions in Siberia.
Sturrock also said that the company can ship in raw materials from western Russia if local feedstock turns out to be insufficient. The governor assured him that this will not be necessary.
The agreement on the construction of the factory was signed at the beginning of 2019 at the Sochi Investment Forum.