Baltika develops its business in Azerbaijan

On Wednesday, 20 May 2009 the Baltika-Baku brewery in Azerbaijan was reopened in a festive ceremony following reconstruction. Now this foreign production facility of Baltika meets all the standards and process requirements which are mandatory for all of the Company’s breweries. Today the filling lines of the brewery in the city of Khyrdalan released onto the market the famous Baltika №3 Classic in 0.5-litre bottles and Xirdalan in new 1.5-litre PET packaging.

The modernisation of Baltika-Baku brewery is one of the largest recent investment projects in the Azerbaijan Republic in the non-raw materials sector. The overall volume of funds invested to the investment programme will amount to around $US 20 million. Within the enterprise there was reconstruction of the brewing unit, as well as the fermentation and filtration sections. The filling line for glass bottles was re-equipped and a new line for filling beer in PET packaging was installed.

Vladimir Dorokhin, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation in the Azerbaijan Republic: ‘In recent years Russian-Azerbaijan collaboration has been noticeably energised both in the political and in the economic sphere. An obvious confirmation of that can be seen in the modernisation of the Baltika-Baku brewery, which is the largest Russian investment project involving the economy of the Azerbaijan Republic outside the raw materials sector.’

Anton Artemiev, President of Baltika Breweries: ‘Baltika-Baku will enable our Company to strengthen its position in the Trans-Caucasus. Having our own production in this region will substantially broaden our possibilities for developing export activity. This is supported by our optimistic evaluation of the prospects for growing the Azerbaijan market and the propitious investment climate.’

All the equipment newly installed in the Baltika-Baku enterprise was manufactured by the world’s leading companies, such as Krones AG, Gea Brewery Systems Gmbh, Filtrox AG, Ring Crown and Pall Gmbh.

Adam Tlekhurai, General Director of Baltika-Baku Ltd: ‘Now the Company’s foreign brewery meets the standards and process requirements which are mandatory for Baltika breweries. The modernisation has enabled us not only to raise the quality of local brands but also to produce the famous Baltika beer. With time we can provide consumers in Azerbaijan with the entire line-up of Baltika beer varieties brewed in the facilities of the Baltika-Baku brewery.’

The share of Baltika Breweries brands in Azerbaijan, including the local brands and exported varieties, comprised 73% of the beer market in 2008. Having production in the Transcaucasian region will enable Baltika not only to reduce logistics expenses but also to develop new export routes.

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Baltika Breweries is the largest FMCG company in Russia. Ever since 1996, it has been the leader on the Russian beer market. The Baltika brand occupies first place in Europe in terms of sales (Canadean, Euromonitor). The Company comprises breweries in 10 cities across Russia and 1 brewery in Azerbaijan. It has a broad portfolio of brands. Baltika Breweries is the leading exporter of Russian beer: Baltika products are presented in more than 50 countries around the world. The Company accounts for 70% of all export shipments of Russian beer.

A brief information note about the Baltika-Baku brewery. The brewery in Khyrdalan was commissioned in 1969 and belonged to the producers’ association Baku-Pivo. It was one of the six largest brewery companies of the USSR. In 1997, the brewery came under the management of the French concern Group Castel. In 1999, there was a large-scale reconstruction of the brewery. Heydar Aliyev, the national leader of the Azerbaijan Republic, was present at the official opening of the modernised brewery in 2000. By 2008, the enterprise’s products held more than 70% of the beer market in Azerbaijan. On 15 May 2008, Baltika Breweries and Brasseries Internationales Holding (Eastern) Ltd (BIH Eastern) signed an agreement for the purchase of the brewery in Khyrdalan. After the transaction was approved by the antimonopoly authorities of Azerbaijan, the brewery became part of Baltika Breweries. It was renamed Baltika-Baku at the start of 2009.

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