FoodLogistics.com |

St. Petersburg: Kraft Foods Inc. has just invested $100 million in an instant coffee factory near Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg, which will serve the country's fast-growing thirst for coffee.

"The Russian coffee market is the world's largest by volume. We decided to build the factory in Russia due to the speed of the Russian market's growth," Kraft notes in a statement.

Of the total investment, $60 million was spent on buying technology and $40 million on construction and commissioning of the plant, located in the Northwestern Leningrad region that surrounds St. Petersburg.

The plant will be able to churn out 5,000 tons of the freeze-dried coffee per-year and could increase its capacity to 10,000 tons with another $50 million investment.

The factory will produce the Jacobs Monarch, Carte Noire and Maxim brands, while Maxwell House and Jacobs Aroma will continue to be imported from Western Europe.