Carlsberg opens $344 million Almaty plant to make Kazakhstan its Central Asian hub

Carlsberg Group has opened a $344 million beverage plant in Kazakhstan's Almaty Region, a facility that will produce PepsiCo soft drinks for consumers in Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic, The Astana Times reported. The plant, located in Boraldai, began operating on Oct. 1 and is designed to turn out roughly 1 billion liters a year once it reaches full capacity.

The first phase of the project includes five production lines. According to figures cited in the report, the site will employ more than 230 people directly, with further work expected among suppliers and in related sectors. Local content makes up 71.5% of procurement, and the company intends to lift the share of goods sourced from Kazakh suppliers over time.

A regional bet, not just a national one

Carlsberg's chief executive presented the investment as a platform for wider expansion. "This is an important milestone in our long-term commitment to Kazakhstan, but it is also a major step in the development of our business across Central Asia," Jacob Aarup-Andersen said.

PepsiCo, whose brands the plant will bottle, used similar language. "Kazakhstan is a strategic growth market for our international beverages business, and today's plant opening reflects the confidence we share with Carlsberg Group in its future," said Eugene Willemsen, CEO of PepsiCo International Beverages. The opening builds on a separate $368 million snack facility near Almaty that PepsiCo committed to in 2024 and that started production this year, according to the newspaper.

Local officials tied the project to the government's push to spread industrial growth beyond the main cities. "Economic development is first and foremost reflected in concrete projects being implemented in every region of the country," said Chingis Arinov, the akim, or governor, of Almaty Region. Carlsberg Kazakhstan paid 37.5 billion tenge ($83.6 million) in taxes in 2025, the report said.

The Russia link behind the Kazakh unit

The Almaty investment also reflects how Carlsberg reshaped its eastern business after leaving Russia. Moscow seized the Danish group's stake in Baltika Breweries in July 2023 and placed it under temporary management by the state property agency Rosimushchestvo, following Carlsberg's 2022 decision to exit the Russian market. In December 2024, Carlsberg agreed to sell Baltika to VG Invest, a company run by senior Baltika managers, for 34 billion rubles ($320.75 million). Under that deal, Carlsberg received cash plus shareholdings in Carlsberg Kazakhstan and Carlsberg Azerbaijan, according to Food Business MEA.

That settlement put the shares of the Kazakh unit in the hands of the Danish group itself, and the Almaty plant now gives that business a large new production base. The project also adds to a wider competition for manufacturing capital in Central Asia, where neighboring Uzbekistan is promoting $7.5 billion in wind and data-center projects in Karakalpakstan.

What it means: For Kazakhstan, the plant is the kind of investment Astana has sought for years: a Western consumer brand building production at home rather than importing finished goods, with high local sourcing and a regional export reach. For Carlsberg and PepsiCo, choosing Almaty Region as a hub for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan signals that Central Asia is being treated as a market in its own right, no longer an extension of a Russia-centered operation. The 71.5% local procurement share and the promise to raise it will be the figures to watch, because they determine how much of the 1 billion liters of capacity translates into income for Kazakh suppliers rather than imported inputs.