Second Russian plant for Alfred Ritter
to build a €25 million factory in the Moscow region which will be
used to make the company's well known brand of Ritter Sport
chocolate bars.
The company says that construction of the brand new facility is scheduled to begin this year. So far the regional administration has given a long term lease to the German company for a land plot in the Chekhov district, on the outskirts of Russia.
The company said that output capacity is projected to be10,000 tonnes of chocolate products a year.
In another Russian project, which was announced last year, Alfred Ritter has just begun making pilot batches of chocolate at the Odintsovo candy factory. The facility includes two production line at a cost of €10 million which have been provided to Alfred Ritter under a lease agreement. The terms are based on a 50/50 joint venture between the Russian and German confectionery manufacturers.
Alfred Ritter will be targeting the domestic market, with the big cities being the primary focus. Eventually it expects to manufacture around 10,000 tons of chocolate a year.
Although Russian consumption of chocolate is only on a par with smaller countries in western Europe, the market is thought to have great potential because of its growing economy and increasing affluence in much of the population.
In 2001 total consumption of chocolate was 500,000 tons. On top of that, average per capita consumption rose from 2.2kg in 2001 to 3.1kg in 2002.
