Coca-Cola sees Estonia in a different light than Carlsberg

Unlike Coca-Cola, owners of Estonia’s largest brewery Saku have no plans to transfer production away from Estonia.

Inga Kuusik, finance director of Saku Brewery, told Äripäev that Carlsberg that is the controlling shareholder of Saku Brewery has no such plans.

“On the contrary, this is the time to invest and prepare for new growth. Although times may be tough at present, this is the right time to build future growth,” said Kuusik.

Kuusik said that Saku plans to invest around EEK 70 million this year and has no plans to cut its investments this year or next. She said that she could not say next year’s investment since the budget has not yet been finalized.

“Much will depend how much we can invest this year. Otherwise, we try to optimize and are not doing things that we don’t need to do, but we don’t optimize on investments,” she added.

Estonia’s largest soft drink producer Coca-Cola may move its production from Estonia to Latvia in the nearest few years.

The company press spokesperson said that it was looking over its investment strategies and that one scenario would be relocating its Tallinn plant to abroad.
“After weighing possible locations we made a decision that the best option for a new factory would be Latvia, since it best meets our requirements. But we haven’t made the final decision yet,” Laaneots said.

Coca-Cola employs over 250 people in Estonia.