Fonterra to exit Russian businesses

Fonterra has recently announced that it will exit its businesses in Russia. This follows the Co-op’s decision to suspend shipments of product to Russia at the end of February.

CEO Miles Hurrell says, “Our first step following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was to establish the safety of the team in Russia, and our priority through this process continues to be doing the right thing by our people.”

“We then suspended shipment of product to Russia while we assessed the impact of economic sanctions and discussed our long-term plans with our customers and joint venture partner.”

“Following careful consideration of the impact on our people and our long-term plans for the Russian market, we will now close our office in Moscow, re-deploying staff where possible, and withdraw from our joint venture Unifood.”

“Fonterra exports a small amount of product to Russia, primarily butter, totalling about 1% of our annual exports. Given the current strong demand for New Zealand dairy, we are confident in our ability to re-allocate this product to other markets,” says Mr Hurrell.

New Zealand has been exporting butter to Russia for more than 40 years. Fonterra entered the joint venture Unifood in December 2018.