There is confusion about the long term future of Tetra Pak in the Russian market after conflicting reports about the Swedish packaging company’s intentions in the country.
The privately owned business, part of Tetra Laval, had earlier said it would not support its Russian subsidiary with investment or further support and has donated €10 million to humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.
At the time Tetra Laval chairman Lars Renström said: “We condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and are deeply concerned by the war. It is tragic and terrible. The war is affecting our colleagues, friends, partners, suppliers, consumers, customers, and their families and friends.”
However, its operations in Russia have continued to operate while most other European and US packaging groups have divested their Russian operations. Now with the imposition of sanctions by the EU and other countries, Tetra Pak will no longer provide financial or other support for the Russian subsidiary. This includes artwork which is held on servers in Sweden.
According to reports the Russian company will be able to use artwork it has already downloaded but will not be able to modify artwork or other content on packs.
But reports that the company is about to leave the Russian market are wide of the mark, according to a report from Russian news agency Tass. It quotes a Tetra Pak spokesman saying that suggestions that Tetra Pak was poised to quit the country “is not true. Currently, Tetra Pak continues to operate on the Russian market”.
It has a vast factory near Moscow which produces liquid packaging for export markets was well as being the largest supplier of liquid packaging in Russia. Provisions are being taken to replace Russian production for export with production at other sites.
The fate of Tetra Pak is important to Russia as it is the largest provider of packaging for milk in the country. The milk is UHT, treated to achieve a long life, essential when the vast distances in the country can mean milk arriving in Moscow will be at least two days old before it goes on sale. Alternatives to Tetra Pak’s packaging include PET bottles which can only carry pasteurised milk which has a much shorter shelf life.
Russian packaging companies, like other printers in the country, are replacing suppliers from the EU and western Europe with suppliers from China, India and Turkey to fill gaps in their portfolios. Even without sanctions western European suppliers have been insisting on prepayment for supplies to mitigate the risk of dealing with the country, while distributors are finding that payment from their customers is slower than has been customary.
One answer is to reduce the amount of product supplied with each delivery. A further challenge that printers face with the loss of imported consumables is that substitute products are not always to the same level of quality, reducing the quality of the final printed page or packaging. Designs too are likely to be affected, to reduce the volume of material and ink needed, with longer runs to stretch the life of plates.
Russia’s hardline attitude towards alternative options is being adopted by ally and Ukraine’s neighbour Belarus. A number of book publishers in the country have been forced to suspend activities while another has had 200 titles confiscated with company executives arrested.
