Nearly six months after the American corporation announced it would halt sales and production after Moscow moved tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, PepsiCo Inc. has discontinued producing Pepsi, 7UP, and Mountain Dew in Russia.
Pepsi made its revelation after media visited dozens of stores, retailers, and gyms in Moscow and elsewhere and discovered Pepsi cans and bottles printed with manufacture dates from Russian plants in July and August. A Pepsi product’s most recent date was August 17.
Since the business declared in early March that production, sales, promotional activities, and advertising in Russia would be suspended, a PepsiCo representative said on Sept. 8 that “all concentrates have subsequently been exhausted in Russia and production has terminated.”
When asked for an update on sales and if they had been stopped, the spokesperson stated this was “in keeping with the announcement we made in March 2022,” but she declined to speak further.
According to analysis, sodas are still freely accessible in Moscow, Vladivostok in the far east, and Krasnoyarsk in Siberia because of the ongoing manufacture.
A Moscow-based gym owner claimed that a recent order had been placed with Pepsi.
As part of broad sanctions intended to penalise Russia for its activities in Ukraine, the West has not imposed restrictions on food and drink.
However, the ongoing accessibility emphasises how difficult it is to leave one of the biggest nations in the world. After the United States and Mexico, Russia was Pepsi’s third-largest market in 2021.
Months after the brewers announced they would stop production, stores in the capital were still selling off stocks of imported beers.
Coca-Cola Co., an Atlanta-based rival, continued to produce in Russia despite having said in March that it would stop doing so.
The business said in June that production and sales of Coke and other brands would cease in Russia as a result of stock being exhausted by its bottler, Coca-Cola HBC AG, a separate company, and existing customers.
In March, PepsiCo announced that it will keep selling basic necessities like milk and other dairy products, infant formula, and baby food in Russia. The business has been in business in Russia for more than 60 years, and when the Soviet Union fell, its colas were among the few Western goods that were permitted in the country.
