Kimberly-Clark builds 100-acre facility in Russia

The multi-million dollar facility will be located in Stupino, near Moscow, and will support the company's growing business operations in Russia and Eastern Europe. Kimberly-Clark's new plant is expected to become operational early in 2009 and will produce personal care and tissue for the Russian and Eastern European markets where the company already has a strong presence. The company cited the region's expanding middle class as the target for its products because of their preference for high-quality branded products. Furthermore, the chances of commercial success in Russia and Eastern Europe are high as retail sales are growing at double-digit rates and are expected to experience high single figure growth. "This significant investment demonstrates Kimberly-Clark's long-term commitment to the Russian market,"​ said Jonathan Tarr, the managing director for Eastern Europe. "This facility will allow us to increase speed of delivery and service to our rapidly growing consumer base and maintain a leadership position in this market,"​ added Tarr. Kimberly-Clark has identified pursuit of growth in Russia and Eastern Europe as a segment of a broader strategy to exploit the potential of emerging markets. The company has earmarked a number of countries that it is seeking to target because of their growth potential. The personal care firm refers to the group as BRICIT - Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, China, India and Turkey. The company has already benefited from high growth in emerging markets and with the manufacturing facility in Russia it hopes to build on its success. Kimberly-Clark is one of the largest personal care companies in the world has a quarterly turnover of around $4bn.