Figure of the day: 18 of the 30 largest foreign companies still operate in Russia

Putin’s statement, made back on April 25 at an enlarged meeting of the board of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, that “we must allow foreign companies to work quietly” that “despite everything, continue to fulfill their obligations in good faith,” received an encouraging turn: many large foreign companies, despite all the talk about leaving the Russian market due to sanctions, continue their work. TASS journalists studied the state of affairs in thirty of these companies that had the largest revenue in the Russian market in 2020. It turned out that 18 of them did not go anywhere. By area of activity, the picture is as follows.

Technology

The factories of the South Korean companies Samsung in Kaluga and LG in the Ruzsky district of the Moscow region continue to operate, as well as seven own production facilities of the German Bosch, including a plant for the production of washing machines and refrigerators in the Leningrad region and auto components in the Samara region. But at the same time, South Korean companies suspended all deliveries to Russia, and the German concern stopped supplying car engine control systems, which, among other things, regulate power and exhaust emissions.

On March 2, Apple announced the suspension of sales of its products in Russia. On the same day, re:Store stores, the largest reseller of this equipment in Russia, were closed. True, the outlets reopened the very next day, now they are operating as usual, although Apple has refused to sell the new iPhone SE, Mac Studio and the updated iPad Air in Russia.

Google has not made any official announcements about the suspension of work in Russia, but the video hosting company YouTube, owned by the company, has blocked Russian media accounts that are funded by the state, and has also suspended all methods of monetizing content in Russia, removes materials about the special operation in Ukraine if they do not comply with YouTube's internal requirements, and Google blocked downloading and updating paid apps in Russia.

The Chinese IT giant Huawei has taken a wait-and-see attitude and is working out old contracts, but does not sign new ones with Russian partners.

Trade

Almost all major industry players have said they will continue to work in Russia. All 112 stores of the French network of hypermarkets of goods for construction and repair Leroy Merlin are open and operate as usual. The Russian division of Auchan Retail, which operates 241 Auchan and ATAK stores, operates in "full autonomy mode" after the decision of the parent company. All hypermarkets of the Metro Cash and Carry and Globus networks also function. And the departed IKEA plans to resume the supply of products, in addition, the Mega shopping and entertainment centers owned by IKEA are still working. The main enterprises of the food and feed production company of the American agricultural trader Cargill are also operating. Cargill, which owns an industrial complex for grain processing in the Tula region, a large elevator in Voronezh, a feed mill and a river grain shipment terminal in Rostov, as well as a factory in Klin.

Consumer goods

None of the largest food and beverage producers began to close their Russian factories. But everyone said that they would not start new investments in the Russian Federation for the time being, and also curtailed all advertising and marketing activities. American beverage manufacturer PepsiCo announced in early March that it was suspending the sale of soft drinks in Russia and leaving only dairy products and food for children.

The Swiss company Nestle has suspended supplies of non-essential food products to Russia. These include, for example, Nespresso coffee and S. Pellegrino natural mineral water. Later, it was decided to reduce the range of production at factories in the Russian Federation. In particular, the production of products under the Nesquik and Kitkat brands has been discontinued.

The French Danone does not intend to stop the work of 19 of its Russian factories, but will focus on the production of basic dairy products. But import deliveries of subsidiaries such as Evian and Alpro will be stopped. At the same time, in 2021, Russia launched its own production of Alpro oat, almond and coconut drinks in the Krasnodar Territory at the Labinsky dairy plant.

20% of McDonald's restaurants are still franchised and open (these are mainly restaurants located in Siberia, as well as in the capital's airports). Restaurant employees continue to receive salaries - there are about 62,000 of them, and about 100,000 more people work at supplying enterprises.

The American manufacturer of household chemicals and hygiene products Procter & Gamble stopped all investments in Russia and announced its intention to reduce the list of products supplied to the country, but there is no talk of a complete withdrawal from the Russian market. “P&G has adapted and will continue to adapt its business to the ever-changing environment. We have already restructured our operations in Russia,” the company said in a statement.

tobacco industry

Philip Morris International (brands Marlboro, L&M, Bond Street, Parliament) is considering options for business restructuring in Russia, including the transfer of assets. In the meantime, a decision has been made to reduce production due to interruptions in the supply chain. PMI owns two full-cycle factories in Russia: in the Leningrad region and the Krasnodar region. The company has more than 3.2 thousand employees in the country.

But Japan Tobacco International (brands Winston, LD, Camel, Sobranie, Donskoy Tabak, Kiss, Play, Peter I) did not announce plans to leave Russia, but only suspended new investments and marketing activity in the country. Over 4,000 people work in JTI's Russian offices and five factories.