Fonterra to exit Russian businesses following Ukraine invasion

Fonterra has closed its Moscow office and withdrawn from its joint venture with Unifood, following its decision to suspend dairy export to Russia in February.

Fonterra’s CEO, Miles Hurrell, said: “Our first step following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was to establish the safety of the team in Russia, and our priority through this process continues to be doing the right thing by our people. We then suspended shipment of product to Russia while we assessed the impact of economic sanctions and discussed our long-term plans with our customers and joint venture partner.”

He continued: “Following careful consideration of the impact on our people and our long-term plans for the Russian market, we will now close our office in Moscow, re-deploying staff where possible, and withdraw from our joint venture Unifood”.

Fonterra has been exporting a “small amount of product” to Russia, mainly butter, representing about 1% of its annual shipments.

Hurrell added: “Given the current strong demand for New Zealand dairy, we are confident in our ability to re-allocate this product to other markets”.