Russia: SUN Interbrew is considering building a new brewery in the Siberian region of Irkutsk. A statement from the region’s administration said that SUN Interbrew’s board of directors will make a decision on the brewery’s construction at a meeting in Belgium later this month or early next. The statement quoted the first deputy of the region’s administration, Alexander Bitarov.

Russian press agency Interfax said yesterday that representatives of OAO SUN Interbrew, SUN Interbrew’s subsidiary in the country, offered to cooperate with the Irkutsk regional administration two months ago. The regional authorities prepared six construction sites for the brewery and, after talks, the company said it was interested in cooperating with the Irkutsk region. Interfax also claimed that SUN Interbrew has already approved in principle plans to build a brewery costing €50m in Siberia.

SUN Interbrew was attracted by highly qualified staff in the region and also by water from nearby Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, which it could use for producing beverages, the release said. “The project is economically very interesting for our region. Specialists estimate that the region’s treasury will get some RUB300m (US$10.27m) a year from excise taxes alone,” the release quotes Bitarov as saying.

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