U.S. Ball Corporation shuttering Russian business, planning to sell it
MOSCOW. March 29 (Interfax) - United States-based Ball Corporation, a major manufacturer of aluminum packaging, has announced that it is closing the company's three factories in Russia.
The company will seek to sell its Russian business to a new owner, the company said in a statement.
Ball had previously announced that it was terminating investments in Russia amid the country's conflict with Ukraine.
Ball's Russian business in 2021 generated around 4%, $13.8 billion, of the company's total revenue and 8% of its operating profit. The Russian factories produced around 5%, 112.5 billion overall, of the global supply of aluminum cans for beverages.
Ball has three Russian factories located in Naro-Fominsk, Moscow Region; Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region; and Argayash, Chelyabinsk Region.
The company had announced plans in 2021 to build a fourth plant in Ulyanovsk. The decision was taken "in response to growing consumer interest in sustainable products and the rising number of new brands names and categories of beverages favoring cans," explained the Russian Aluminium Association of manufacturers, suppliers and consumers.