Puratos: makes massive investment in Russia

Groot-Bijgaarden / BE. (pnv) With the opening of its new factory in the Moscow suburb of Podolsk, Puratos NV confirms that, despite the current world economic crisis, it sees Russia as a promising and fast evolving market. Consumers are becoming more and more demanding in terms of product quality, eating pleasure and taste. Having kept a close eye on these trends for years, Puratos has successfully brought a series of tailor-made innovations and concepts to Russian bakers, confectioners and chocolate-makers.

The 6’000 square metres plant has been designed to answer customers´ specific needs. The Innovation Center is at the heart of the new site. There, customers will meet Puratos R+D specialists to create new product ranges with ingredients specially developed in the new laboratories at Podolsk. The Innovation Center is equipped with the latest high-tech equipment from the most famous manufacturers. This unique place also offers demonstration facilities.

The factory is divided into four units. The first is in charge of dry blending, producing powder improvers and mixes. The second one takes care of the confectionery mixes such as custard creams and cake mixes. The third one handles the wet production of glazes and fillings. And the fourth one produces a complete range of whipped toppings. A large warehouse supplies over 40 local Puratos platforms and independent distributors nationwide.

Puratos has been operating in Russia since 1995 in both Moscow and St Petersburg and since 2007 in Novosibirsk. Today the company employs over 160 staff across the Russian Federation, and is market leader on the Russian bakery and confectionery ingredients market.

Nikolai Makovlev, General Manager of Puratos Russia, now sees the fruits of years of hard work before his eyes. «The achievement of this project was an incredibly tough challenge, but we can be proud of it, and really focus now on further growing our sales in the Russian market».

Piet Sanders, Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific, saw the first products coming off the lines. «With this great, innovative production facility we will be able to grow faster in the promising and innovation-hungry Russian bakery and confectionery market. And our qualified R+D staff now have an excellent innovation and development center at their disposal to fulfil our customers’ needs even better». The project began with the acquisition of land in October 2005. «The entire project took 3,5 years from land purchase to factory start-up, but our team did a great job in the sometimes difficult Russian administrative environment», says Piet Sanders. «The Podolsk site is also meant to be a sourcing unit for neighboring C.I.S. countries, such as Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and others».

CEO Daniel Malcorps was proud to visit the new site. «This brand new, high-tech factory and innovation center is a major investment for the Puratos Group, but it underlines the confidence of the shareholders in the Russian market. Russia is the largest bread market in the world in kilograms, and we simply had to be here with a large, local manufacturing facility».