OREANDA-NEWS. On 26 May 2009 was announced, that the Baltika-Baku brewery in Azerbaijan was reopened in a festive ceremony following reconstruction. Now this foreign production facility of Baltika meets all the standards and process requirements which are mandatory for all of the Company’s breweries. Today the filling lines of the brewery in the city of Khyrdalan released onto the market the famous Baltika №3 Classic in 0.5-litre bottles and Xirdalan in new 1.5-litre PET packaging.

The modernisation of Baltika-Baku brewery is one of the largest recent investment projects in the Azerbaijan Republic in the non-raw materials sector. The overall volume of funds invested to the investment programme will amount to around USD  20 million. Within the enterprise there was reconstruction of the brewing unit, as well as the fermentation and filtration sections. The filling line for glass bottles was re-equipped and a new line for filling beer in PET packaging was installed.

Vladimir Dorokhin, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation in the Azerbaijan Republic: ‘In recent years Russian-Azerbaijan collaboration has been noticeably energised both in the political and in the economic sphere. An obvious confirmation of that can be seen in the modernisation of the Baltika-Baku brewery, which is the largest Russian investment project involving the economy of the Azerbaijan Republic outside the raw materials sector.’

Anton Artemiev, President of Baltika Breweries: ‘Baltika-Baku will enable our Company to strengthen its position in the Trans-Caucasus. Having our own production in this region will substantially broaden our possibilities for developing export activity. This is supported by our optimistic evaluation of the prospects for growing the Azerbaijan market and the propitious investment climate.’

All the equipment newly installed in the Baltika-Baku enterprise was manufactured by the world’s leading companies, such as Krones AG, Gea Brewery Systems Gmbh, Filtrox AG, Ring Crown and Pall Gmbh.

Adam Tlekhurai, General Director of Baltika-Baku Ltd: ‘Now the Company’s foreign brewery meets the standards and process requirements which are mandatory for Baltika breweries. The modernisation has enabled us not only to raise the quality of local brands but also to produce the famous Baltika beer. With time we can provide consumers in Azerbaijan with the entire line-up of Baltika beer varieties brewed in the facilities of the Baltika-Baku brewery.’

The share of Baltika Breweries brands in Azerbaijan, including the local brands and exported varieties, comprised 73% of the beer market in 2008. Having production in the Transcaucasian region will enable

Baltika not only to reduce logistics expenses but also to develop new export routes.