Fazer Group to build bakery in Russia

Fazer Group plans to build a bakery production plant in St Petersburg, Russia.

Fazer Group president and CEO Christoph Vitzthum signed an agreement of intent (AoI) with St Petersburg governor Georgy Poltavchenko at the St Petersburg Economical Forum for strategic cooperation in building the new facility.

Vitzthum said: "We are committed to strengthening Fazer’s competitiveness and profitability in Russia. By now, we have invested around €295m in Russia.

"With the agreement signed with the government of St Petersburg today, we declare our intention to build a new production plant in the city and receive support and consultancy from the city for this project."

Fazer plans to construct a modern plant that will produce frozen bakery goods, with potential expansion into fresh bakery products.

The estimated project timeline is ten years from this year.

The firm intends to invest RUR14bn ($212m) on facility construction, production machinery and equipment.

"We are looking forward to enlarge our footprint in Russia, develop our business in growing segments and grow business together with our clients and partners, exceeding their expectations," added Vitzthum.

Fazer is a leading bakery company in Russia with four operating bakeries and around 3,000 employees. It also has a strong presence in frozen bread category in the country.

Fazer Russia managing director Vladimir Kalyavin said: "Bread has been changing rapidly from a commodity category towards a category with an increasing number of innovations in products and technologies. Fazer is not only following consumer demand, but also setting new trends for bread consumption.

"The new plant will enable us to implement recipes that appeal to consumers, helping us to grow the category with our customers and improving the efficiency of our operations."