McCain Foods scraps plans for Russian plant
CBC
McCain Foods has scrapped its plan to open a potato processing plant in Russia following the country's invasion of Ukraine.
The company that was founded in New Brunswick announced the change in plans in a statement issued Thursday morning after previously saying it had halted construction as of Feb. 24.
"We have now made the decision to discontinue the project entirely," Charlie Angelakos, McCain's vice-president of global external affairs and sustainability, said in an emailed statement.
"In addition, we are also suspending all shipments of our products into the Russian market."
McCain, founded in 1957 in Florenceville in western New Brunswick, says it now has 49 production operations on six continents.
The company announced its plans for the processing plant in the Tula Oblast region south of Moscow in April 2021.
At the time, McCain said it expected to spend 150 million euros, or about $211 million Cdn, to build the plant that would employ about 200 people.
The company said at the time that after 20 years of importing frozen products from its European plants to sell in Russia and surrounding nations, it had decided to localize production of the supply of french fries and other products.
The company's decision to discontinue construction follows a wave of corporations reconsidering their operations in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Canada, the United States, European Union and other countries have imposed a series of sanctions on Russia.
As the war enters its third week, Western officials said Russian forces have made little progress on the ground in recent days but have intensified the bombardment of cities such as Mariupol where an airstrike on a maternity hospital killed three people Wednesday.
As efforts to reach a broad ceasefire failed, emergency workers renewed efforts to get vital food and medical supplies into besieged Ukrainian cities and to get traumatized residents out.
"The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been deeply concerning to all of us at McCain Foods," Angelakos said in the statement about the plant.
"Our thoughts continue to be with those affected by this crisis, and we have done everything in our power to put the health and safety of our employees at the centre of our response."
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