PepsiCo Ukraine is to boost its share of the Ukrainian baby food market to 25% from the current 10% with the launch of its new Ahusha factory, which will produce cultured milk foods for children on the territory of the Wimm-Bill-Dann Ukraine dairy factory in Vyshneve, Kyiv region.

"I think our market share is about 10%... We could realistically boost that figure by 2-2.5 times in the five years," PepsiCo Ukraine General Manager Neil Sturrock said at an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the factory on May 22.

He pointed to the importance of the Ukrainian market and added that PepsiCo's business in the United States and Western Europe was quite stable and was characterized by a little growth.

"It's difficult to achieve a lot of growth in Western Europe and the United States, where the market is saturated. Here (in Ukraine), there are many opportunities for future growth," he said.

Director General of PJSC Wimm-Bill-Dann Ukraine Andriy Naumov in turn said that the investment in the Ahusha factory had amounted to Hr 120 million. He said the factory is able to process 50 tonnes of milk per 24 hours.

Speaking in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, Naumov said the company plans to produce about 200 tonnes of dairy foods per month in 2012.

"Our plan for this year is to produce about 200 tonnes of dairy foods per month," he said.

At the same time, he said that at the beginning, the Ahusha factory would put out only drinking yoghurt and cottage cheese for children. Within a year, it will start producing special kefir (a local dairy product) for children.

Naumov added that the import of Ahusha dairy baby foods from Russia would be stopped completely due to the launch of their production in Ukraine; however, the company will continue importing Ahusha juice and fruit purees.

He also noted that the Ahusha factory in Vyshneve would produce baby foods for the local market. However, he did not rule out that the produce might be exported to neighboring countries.

"Moldova, Belarus and Russia are promising markets where we could export Ahusha baby foods," he said.

According to him, milk for the production of Ahusha dairy foods is supplied by AgroEcology farm in Poltava region and fruit filling agents by Agrana Fruit Ukraine in Vinnytsia region.

The Ahusha factory was commissioned on May 17, 2012.

According to the company, the factory completely meets new requirements of the law on baby foods, as the company runs an autonomous cycle of production of foods for children up to the age of three, which ensures separate acceptance of raw materials, own production lines and the separate storage of finished foods. All suppliers of the factory have certificates required by the Ukrainian Health Ministry.

PepsiCo Ukraine owns Sandora and Wimm-Bill-Dann Ukraine.

KyivPost