OREANDA-NEWS. On 07 March 2008 was announced, that the 7th Awards Ceremony for Finalists of the Highest Social Award of the Russian Federation in the Field of Food Production - "For Abundance and Prosperity of Russia” took place. Baltika Breweries was named as the best in the category "Special Contribution to Implementation of the Priority National Project ‘Development of Agro-industrial Complexes’"

Over the course of two years, Baltika has been implementing its own agricultural project created with the aim of helping domestic agricultural producers to grow high quality brewers barley suitable for making different varieties of Baltika beer. In the future the Company plans to use domestic grain to replace imported raw materials, enabling it to economise on expenses while maintaining the world renowned high quality of its beer.

Each year the scale of the Company’s agricultural project increases by 15-20%. Last year the more than 50 agro-industrial businesses which collaborated with Baltika harvested more than 150,000 tonnes of brewers’ barley, which was nearly 90% more than the 2006 tonnage. The 2007 barley harvest amounted to 25% of the Company’s requirements.

At present, Baltika Breweries is cooperating with agricultural producers of the Central and the Central Black Earth regions in the Tula, Voronezh, Lipetzk, Penza, Ryazan, Tambov and other Oblasts. In 2007 the decision was taken to expand the existing agricultural project and begin to implement it in the Chelyabinsk Oblast.

Anton Artemiev, President of Baltika Breweries, commented as follows:

‘Malt obtained from select barley grown in Russia can seriously compete with the world’s producers. In this way, by the time Russia enters the WTO, Russian agricultural producers will be able to compete with European companies. We are planning to develop our agricultural project, thereby facilitating the success of national priority projects and the development of the entire Russian economy.’

The award "For Abundance and Prosperity of Russia’ was established in April 2000. The founders of the award are the Association of Sectoral Unions of the ASSAGROS Agro-industrial Complex and the International Industrial Academy. For the past four years the award has been supported by the Russian Agrarian Movement.

Baltika Breweries is the largest FMCG company in Russia. Ever since 1996 it has been the leader on the Russian beer market. The Baltika brand occupies second place in Europe in terms of sales. The Company comprises 11 breweries across all of Russia. It has a wide portfolio of brands and its employees number around 12,000.

The overall requirement of Baltika Breweries for brewers barley is around 600,000 tonnes per year. Around 80% of the barley needed for production is procured in Russia.