The global potato giant McCain is set to begin construction of its first factory for producing french fries in Russia. To this end, McCain Foods Holland established the Russian subsidiary McCain Foods Rus LLC back in June.
The Russian french fries factory will be built in the city of Uzlovaya, about 140 kilometers west of Moscow. Governor Alexey Dyumin of the Tula region and General Director Alexander Petrov of McCain Foods Rus have signed an agreement for the construction of the potato processing complex, Russian Agroinvestor reports.
This facility will be McCain’s first production site in Russia. Approximately 12.7 billion rubles are planned to be invested in the project. The new factory will not only be capable of meeting domestic demand and replacing imports, but will also produce for export in the future, the regional government noted. Currently, the french fries market in Russia is not fully served by local players.
Earlier plans by the Canadian company to build a factory in Russia were reported but fell through at the last moment. For example, in 2011, a project was planned for the Bryansk region with a capacity of about 150 thousand tons. That possibility came up again in early 2019.
McCain Foods Limited is the world leader in frozen potato foods. The company produces one-third of all french fries worldwide. McCain’s operations include the production of french fry products and potato processing.
The capacity of the new Russian facility has not been specified.
McCain was founded in Canada in 1957 and now has 51 factories in Canada, the United States, Australia, the Netherlands (Lelystad), the EU, and other countries. In Russia, the company already operates its own distribution division and a potato farm.