The main owner of the Bochkari brewing company, Vadim Smagin, may expand his business in the soft drinks segment. Its structure thought about buying a closed PepsiCo plant in Ramenskoye near Moscow, probably to increase sales in the Moscow market. The niche formed after the cessation of Coca-Cola and Pepsi bottling in Russia has not yet been filled, but competition is growing. » Vadim Smagin on prior consent to receive fixed assets from JSC Wimm-Bill-Dann Drinks (“WBD Drinks”). The relevant notice was published in the FAS database.

WBD Drinks belongs to the American PepsiCo, one of the largest food and beverage manufacturers. WBD Drinks produced juices at a plant in Ramenskoye near Moscow, in 2015 the enterprise was closed, and production was concentrated at the Lebedyansky plant in Lipetsk. PepsiCo said it had decided to sell the site in Ramenskoye in 2021. They declined to comment further.

According to Kommersant‘s data, in January-June 2022, the Bochkarevsky brewery in the Altai Territory produced 3.37 million deciliters of beer (brands Hmelka, Mazai and etc.), ranking ninth in the Russian Federation. It also produces lemonades, energy drinks, water, kvass. After the bottling of the global brands Coca-Cola and PepsiCo was stopped in the Russian Federation, the plant launched Bochkari drinks with cola, orange and lemon flavors. Klin Aqua, follows from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, was established this October, and the main activity of the company is the production of soft drinks and water. Klin Aqua did not respond to the e-mail specified in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and in the office of the Bochkarevsk plant to Kommersant. . In May 2022, the Federal Antimonopoly Service approved an application for the acquisition of WBD Drinks from a manufacturer of cheeses under the Alti brand of Multipro Group of Companies. But the deal, apparently, did not take place. According to another Kommersant source, Multipro has already expanded its own capacities. Multipro did not provide a comment either.

As Kommersant‘s interlocutor in the market notes, the Bochkarevsky plant is now actively interested in the development of soft drinks on the market. But these are extremely price-sensitive products, and high logistics costs from the Altai Territory make the company’s drinks less competitive on the Moscow market, he points out. . As Mr. Stelmakov notes, the market niche formed with the departure of global brands has not yet been filled. restrictions, including logistical ones, and, perhaps, the owners of the Bochkarevsky plant saw an opportunity to increase sales in the center of the country. But, Mr. Novikov notes, the soft drinks segment in Moscow and the Moscow region is already extremely competitive.

Beer companies have also launched drinks, including MPBK Ochakovo (CoolCola, Fancy and Street) and the Russian structure of Heineken (Royal Cola, Tony Lemony). According to NielsenIQ, in the six months since April, more than 100 new brands of carbonated drinks have appeared in the Russian Federation, which in September accounted for over 9% of sales in the category.