Cadbury manufacturer defends staying in Russia in attempt to 'not take a side'
Mondelez International, the American company that acquired Cadbury in the 2010s, has defended its decision not to follow McDonald’s in quitting Russia, claiming it is the ‘right decision’ for the business.
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, causing over 1,000 companies to curtail operations and sell their local assets, including Starbucks, Coca-Cola, KFC, and Heineken.
Other industry titans, including Nestlé, opted to scale back the sale of non-essential brands to focus on selling essential food items, complying with all international sanctions.
Mondelez is another global company that elected to continue its business in Russia despite the ongoing conflict.
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Last year, more than 70 MPs signed a letter calling for CEO Dirk Van de Put to pull the multinational confectionery company out of the country.
Alex Sobel, Labour MP and the Ukraine All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) wrote in the notice: "Continuing to operate in a nation responsible for the deaths of countless Ukrainian civilians and the abduction of thousands of children cannot be justified under any definition of 'business as usual'."
Speaking to BBC as part of the broadcaster’s Big Boss Interview series, the Belgian businessman, 66, defended the Russian arm’s operation.
“I think over time you try to be neutral in the whole conflict. We're not trying to take any side,” he said. "I think we did the right thing for our people in Russia. Can we be criticised for that? Yeah, of course.
“We pay taxes in Russia that helps the war. I'm not pleased about that."
He claimed that if Mondelez were to sever ties with Russia in the near future, then the Kremlin may ‘confiscate’ its plants in Vyshhorod, positioned close to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, and Trostyanets, near the Russian border.
“It would have probably given them a much bigger source of income, keep on selling our products to fund the war,” the Ghent University alumnus alleged.
Van de Put, whose company also produces Toblerone and Ritz crackers, claimed that one of the plants has had to be rebuilt twice following Russian strikes.
“We've agreed that we will rebuild every single time there so we keep on investing in the country,” he confessed to the publication.
“We doubled everybody's salary when the conflict started, and we have not fired anybody.
"We're committed there but for the people that work there every day there's danger.”
Van de Put added that while he understood continuing operations amid conflict was ‘not the most popular decision’, it was ‘the right decision’ for the business.
Elsewhere in the interview, the entrepreneur claimed Britain’s strict food and drink regulations could cause Mondelez to ‘rethink’ UK investments.
“We've got 100 different targets relating to nutrition… The UK is very important to us, it's our second biggest country so I cannot neglect it, but it makes you doubt a little bit,” he stated.
“How much should we invest in the UK if this is the environment we have to deal with?”
The confession comes amid the British government’s decision to crack down on how supermarkets market fatty, sugary, and salty foods in an attempt to tackle obesity.
He claimed Monzelez had invested a whopping £40million to reformulate its products, which is now 'down the drain' due to following the recent changes made to the regulations.
“I think we've been good stewards of Cadbury… we have a lot of local production, we export a lot, we have a good footprint here. But if we have to make future decisions for Europe, where we put the next plant, it might not be [in the UK] because of those reasons.”
Topics: News
Ella Scott