Pepsi responds to Russian sanctions
As Russia thumps Western sanctions, it has introduced a one-year ban on agricultural and food product imports from the countries that she no longer considers her friends. Moscow has already imposed bans on Ukrainian juice and dairy produce, Polish apples and Australian beef and has said it might target Greek fruits and U.S. poultry.
PepsiCo, because of its Ukrainian subsidiary, is among the companies that might suffer from this ban. On 8 August 2014, it told Russian media that all of its products sold in Russia are made in Russia.
“We have manufacturing operations across Russia and almost all of our products sold in Russia are made in Russia. We also source many of our raw materials from local suppliers. We abide by the laws and regulations in all counties where we do business and we are reviewing the new policy,” Marina Zibareva, Communications Director at PepsiCo Russia, Ukraine and CIS, was quoted as saying.
PepsiCo is Russia’s biggest buyer of potatoes and became the biggest food and beverage producer in the country when it bought juice and dairy maker Wimm-Bill-Dann in 2011, media reported on 7 August 2014.
The company has more than 30 firms in Russia and employs about 25,000 people.
