Nestlé Invests $30.8m in Russia Infant Formula Facility

Nestlé announced on Thursday its 30 million Swiss francs ($30.8 million) investment to build a new infant formula plant in Russia which can offer more variety to consumers in the future.

The facility is said to be part of its existing Vologda site, where Nestlé has operated for 14 years. Other than the gain of the company with its position in the Russian infant formula market, this could also entail support export to neighboring countries.

 “This new factory will allow us to strengthen our leading position in the Russian infant formula market by developing our ability to supply both the domestic and the export markets.” stated Nestlé Russia CEO Martial Rolland.

The nutrition company’s investment is in line with increasingly focusing their spending on high-growth food and beverage categories of coffee, pet care, infant nutrition, and bottled water.

Nestlé Russia has invested about $2 billion into the local production’s development in the past 20 years. They claim that their products are mostly from local origin, about 70% of raw materials and 90% of packaging included.

Eddy Dauphin, Nestlé baby food factory manager, added that the new facility will make it easier for the company to meet consumer demand in the region. He expressed their enthusiasm with starting the construction of the infant formula site which can handle double capacity of their existing facility in a few years.

Nestlé owns eight factories in Russia in total and it is estimated that their plans will be fully operational by 2019.

Nestlé USA’s Improved Chicken Welfare

Nestlé USA’s commitment to improve the welfare of the chickens farmed for meat in its U.S. food supply chain, had been recently recognized and welcomed by the World Animal Protection.

The company’s commitment entails critical and necessary animal welfare measures by 2024. This includes transitioning to slower-growing chicken breeds, offering birds with more space and improved living environments that can provide them natural lighting and enrichment.

"We congratulate Nestlé USA on this commitment to significantly improve the lives of millions of chickens in the United States. As the world's largest food company, Nestlé has the power to make large-scale changes to improve the lives of farm animals," stated Dr. Martin Cooke, International Head of Corporate Engagement at World Animal Protection.

World Animal Protection had previously worked with Nestlé in 2014, during their collaboration, they opt out to grow Nestlé’s expertise on farm animal welfare as an important part of the company’s ways of sourcing strategy.

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