Huhtamaki has announced that it is establishing a new fibre packaging manufacturing plant at its existing site in Alabuga, Russia.
The construction of the new facility comes as Huhtamaki seeks to address the growing demand for fibre packaging solutions due to the rapid growth of the retail and egg packaging sectors in eastern and central Russia.
According to Huhtamaki, work on the site is already underway, and the production of fibre packaging at the new plant is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2022.
Huhtamaki entered the Russian market in 1980, and currently operates two manufacturing sites in the country. The Alabuga site began operations in 2016, initially as a paper cup manufacturing site, while the company’s other site in Ivanteevka, near Moscow manufactures fibre packaging solutions such as packaging for the foodservice industry.
Huhtamaki invested approximately €7 million in 2018 to upgrade and modernise the Ivanteevka site in order to facilitate further growth in the market.
The company reported annual net sales of €108 million in Russia in 2019, and claims that the country represents one of its high growth markets.
Eric Le Lay, president of Huhtamaki’s fibre and foodservice Europe-Asia-Oceania unit, said: “Russia is one of our key growth markets. This additional capacity for molded fibre egg packaging enables further profitable growth for us in Russia.
“The location in Alabuga, Tatarstan, allows us to better serve our customers operating in the fast-developing central and eastern parts of Russia.”
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