Unilever Launches Ice Cream Complex in Russia

The investment agreeing on construction of new production facilities was signed at the Third Tula Economic Forum on October 10, 2008. The project is considered to be one of the most significant Unilever investment projects in Central and Eastern Europe.

08/07/09 A groundbreaking ceremony of a new Inmarko (Unilever group of companies) ice-cream production complex was held in the Leninsky district of the Tula region. Vyacheslav Dudka, Governor of the Tula region, Mikhail Ivantsov, chief executive of Leninsky municipal district, Antoine De-Saint-Affrique, Executive Vice-President, Unilever, and Florin Trandafirescu, President of Inmarko Company attended the ceremony.

The investment agreeing on construction of new production facilities was signed at the Third Tula Economic Forum on October 10, 2008. The project is considered to be one of the most significant Unilever investment projects in Central and Eastern Europe. The volume of investments will total 140 million USD by the end of year 2014. The new complex will cover more than 60 000 square meters and employ about 1 000 people. It will include ice-cream production facilities, a chilled storage area and a logistics center.

"I am confident that this high-technology production complex being constructed in our region will make Tula the ice-cream capital of Russia in the future", – said Vyacheslav Dudka, - "The new plant capacity is planned to be around 120 million liters of end products. It is also important that our ice-cream, which will be produced of local milk and cream butter, will be distributed all over Russia and even exported".

"Unilever continues to implement its investment plan inputting significant monetary resources to the Russian economy despite the extending economic crisis. Construction of the new production complex in Tula is particularly in line with our long-term business development strategy", - said Antoine De-Saint-Affrique. "Within Unilever's 10-year presence in the region the company has become one of the biggest investors and food-producers in the local market. Our investments into Unilever's food factory operations in Tula have already exceeded 15 million USD and last year the factory produced more than 26 thousand tonnes of competitive end products (spreads, mayonnaises, sauces and food concentrates) for local sales and export".

Today, Inmarko is the acknowledged ice-cream market-leader in Russia. The new production center in Tula will further strengthen the company's market positions. The new production capacities will allow Inmarko to increase output as well as to essentially expand its ice-cream distribution chain to the South, the Center and the North-West of Russia.