Beer giants leave Russia

Leading global beer producers Carlsberg and Heineken have announced that they would pull out of Russia. There is no prize for guessing the reason; it is the ongoing war in Ukraine.Heineken and Carlsberg said on 28th March that they would sell their businesses in Russia, both citing the war as the reason. 

As per the media report, Heineken will continue to pay its 1,800 staff in Russia through the end of the year. The company said it would not profit from the sale of its Russian operations and expected to take a 400 million-euro hit as a result.

Amidst widespread international outrage and slew of sanctions that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Netherlands based brewery halted new investments and sales to Russia and ended production, sales, and advertising of its Heineken brand beer there.

Earlier in March, the Carlsberg Group decided that it would no longer produce or sell its main Carlsberg brand in Russia. But after a strategic review of its presence in the country, the decision was made to sell Carlsberg's Russian business completely, Carlsberg wrote in a stock exchange release.

Carlsberg declared that once the process is completed, it will no longer be represented in Russia. Until then, the company's operations in Russia will be maintained on a reduced scale.