Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
March 18, 2005

Russia’s Ochakovo to supply drinks to 3 CIS nations

MOSCOW, Mar 18 (Prime-Tass) — Russia’s major beer and soft drink
manufacturer Ochakovo has signed contracts to have supplied 400,000
decaliters of its products to Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia’s
breakaway republic of Abkhazia, by the end of 2006, the company’s
press service reported Friday.

The contracts are estimated at U.S. USD 2 million.

The press release suggested that the company might have easy time
gaining a share on the three markets. “The people of Kyrgyzstan,
Azerbaijan and Abkhazia are loyal to Russian products”, the press
service said citing the company’s sales director, Vyacheslav
Merkulov. “Many consumers are familiar with our beer since Soviet
times,” he said, noting that this factor has helped the company gain
control over these markets.

Ochakovo’s first supplies to other CIS countries were carried out in
1998 and went to Belarus. Currently the company supplies beer, soft
drinks, low alcohol drinks and hard liquors to Belarus, Latvia,
Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Armenia and Estonia.

In 2004 Ochakovo’s output amounted to 755.3 million liters, including
554.5 million liters of beer, 111.8 million liters of low-alcohol
drinks and 88 million liters of soft drinks.

Ochakovo is one of Russia’s three leading drink producers. It
produces eight different kinds of beverages under over 100 brand
names. End