Coca-Cola opens plant in S. Russia

The Coca-Cola Company has launched a $120 million plant in south Russia to supply non-alcoholic beverages for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi, the company said on Monday. The plant, some 20 km from Rostov-on-Don, which will be the company's fifteenth production facility in Russia, will have a capacity of 450 million decaliters of non-alcoholic beverages a year, the company said in a statement. "Our system is part of the fabric of Russia's economic development and we continue to invest in Russia to create jobs and stimulate growth across our supply chain. Today's announcement underscores the Coca-Cola system's long-term strategy of investing in Russia," Coca-cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent was quoted in the statement as saying. The Coca-Cola Company along with its bottling partner, Coca-Cola Hellenic, will invest in Russia more than $3 billion from 2012 to 2016, Kent also said.