Russia: PepsiCo ends Pepsi, 7UP production months after promising halt over war in Ukraine
Exclusive: PepsiCo ends Pepsi, 7UP production in Russia months after promising halt over Ukraine, 20 September 2022
PepsiCo Inc has stopped making Pepsi, 7UP and Mountain Dew in Russia nearly six months after the U.S. company said it would suspend sales and production after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
Pepsi's announcement came after Reuters visited dozens of supermarkets, retailers and gyms in Moscow and beyond and found cans and bottles of Pepsi printed with July and August production dates from factories within Russia.
The most recent date on a Pepsi product was Aug. 17.
In a statement to Reuters, the U.S. company said it had stopped making concentrates for PepsiCola, Mirinda, 7Up and Mountain Dew in Russia.
"All concentrates have subsequently been exhausted in Russia and production has ended," a PepsiCo spokesperson said on Sept. 8, the first public comments on the matter since the company announced in early March it was suspending production, sales, promotional activities and advertising in Russia.
The spokesperson said this was "in line with the announcement we made in March 2022" but declined to comment when asked for an update on sales and whether they had been halted.
The continued production means sodas are still widely available in Moscow and also in Vladivostok in the far east and Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, according to a review by Reuters...