Heineken to close Ural brewery

Axe falls on Russian plant as efficiency drive contnues

Heineken is to close another of its Russian breweries, putting 140 out of work, the Dutch multinational announced today.  

The closure of the Ivan Taranov facility in Novotroitsk close to the Kazak border comes just weeks after Heineken said it would cease brewing at the Stepan Razin plant, the country’s oldest brewery in St Petersburg.  

Following the closure of the Novotroitsk plant, production will be transferred to two neighbouring facilities in Sterlitamak and Ekaterinburg in the Urals.  

“After the investment project in the Volga Brewery last year, and the expansion of the Patra Brewery, we’ve secured considerable production capacity for the Ural region itself and the closest areas,” said Heineken Russia CEO Dimitar Alexiev.  

Heineken spent some $180 million on overhauling the Volga Brewery in Nizhny Novorod, which it acquired in 2004. The firm has also invested some $85 million on expanding the Patra plant in Ekaterinburg, which it bought last year.  

Alexiev added: “Now the time has come to leverage on the industrial potential we have created in this part of Russia. By consolidating production onto [the] next closest sites … we are able to further improve overall efficiency and… profitability.” 

The closure in Novotroitsk will “maximise production efficiency” in the region, according to the firm. Heineken says it will provide “fair” redundancy packages for those facing unemployment, increasing their benefits and assisting them in finding other work.