McCain Foods Ltd. Sold Its Russian Potato Production Facility

McCain Foods Ltd. of Canada has completed its exit from Russia by selling its Russian potato production facility. McCain Foods began construction on the plant in 2021, at a cost of USD212 million, about 200 kilometers south of Moscow in the Tula oblast (administrative division).

According to The Globe and Mail, this latest corporate exit from Russia was part of a larger migration fueled by moral concerns about Russian aggression as well as punishing international sanctions that severely limited the movement of goods, people, and capital in and out of the country.

McCain halted construction on Feb. 24 when Russian forces invaded Ukraine and announced two weeks later it was abandoning the project. The company also ended shipments to Russian markets and says it has no plans to resume.

On Thursday, McCain said it had completed a sale of the facility to a local buyer.

“This brings an end to McCain operations in Russia. Our thoughts continue to be with those affected by this ongoing crisis,” Charlie Angelakos, vice-president of global external affairs and sustainability at McCain, said in a statement.

A report in the French newspaper Le Monde mentioned that McCain had already spent about USD80m in Russia and the value of the sale was for a “symbolic” amount. Michelle Hann, a spokesperson for McCain, confirmed these details to The Globe and Mail. McCain would not identify the buyer.

McCain added that the Russian market made up less than 5% of its USD11bn global annual sales.