The boycott of American food giant Mondelez is spreading among Swedish traders. At the same time, there are several other large companies on Ukraine's blacklist, including Swedish hygiene and health company Essity, which has factories in Lilla Edet, Falkenberg and Mölnlycke.
On March 1, 2022, Essity announced that it would shut down its operations in Russia within two weeks. But more than a year later, their three plants in Russia are still in operation.
Turnover of billions in Russia
According to Essity's latest interim report, the company's net sales in Russia amounted to approximately SEK 3.6bn in 2022. An increase from 2.8 billion in 2021. And in December 2022, Russian media reported that the company manufactures 70 different goods in Russia, such as napkins, paper handkerchiefs and toilet paper.
Declined an interview
The company has declined SVT Väst's interview request. In an email response, Essity describes that the work to exit the Russian market is slow:
"Already in April 2022, we initiated a sales process of our Russian operations. The process is complicated and has taken longer than expected. We hope to soon be able to communicate more about the process," writes Sofia Hallberg, Senior Vice President Communications at Essity, to SVT.
According to the 2022 Annual Report, Essity had 1,400 employees in Russia. Essity's net assets in Russia amounted to approximately SEK 31.2022bn on December 1, 4.