The plant will produce PepsiCo drinks under licence for Kazakhstan and neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. At full scale it is expected to have capacity for up to 1 billion litres a year, with output increasing progressively. The first phase includes five production lines covering several drink categories and packaging formats. The project is expected to create more than 230 direct jobs, plus further employment in logistics, packaging, warehousing and transport.
Wednesday's opening was attended by Denmark's foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Kazakh government representatives, officials from the Almaty regional administration, and executives from Carlsberg Group and PepsiCo.
The facility is part of a wider partnership that combines Carlsberg's manufacturing and distribution operations in Kazakhstan with PepsiCo's beverage brands and technology. Carlsberg said producing closer to consumers will shorten supply routes and allow a faster response to changes in regional demand.
Carlsberg also plans to raise the share of materials it sources from Kazakh suppliers. Local suppliers currently account for 71.5% of Carlsberg Kazakhstan's procurement, including barley, wheat, aluminium cans, cardboard packaging and glass bottles. The company said expanding the range and volume of locally produced inputs could reduce imports and create opportunities for domestic manufacturers and agricultural producers.
The plant includes water recovery and reuse systems, heat recovery and waste-reduction measures. Carlsberg said specific water-efficiency figures will be reported once the facility is fully operational and its performance validated.
Carlsberg Group chief executive Jacob Aarup-Andersen said the opening was "an important milestone in our long-term commitment to Kazakhstan" and a major step in developing the business across Central Asia. He said the partnership with PepsiCo had been taken "to a new level" and added that investments of this scale are only possible when businesses have confidence in long-term partnership and stability.
Eugene Willemsen, chief executive of PepsiCo's international beverages business, described Kazakhstan as a strategic growth market and said the facility will allow the companies to supply both countries with locally produced drinks while creating jobs and supporting local suppliers.
PepsiCo is also expanding its own manufacturing presence in the country. In 2024 it announced a $368m investment in a snack facility near Almaty, which has begun producing Lay's crisps and is expected to increase its use of locally sourced potatoes.
Almaty Region governor Shyngys Arinov said the project demonstrated the importance of attracting investment and building new production capacity in the region. The opening comes as Kazakhstan seeks to draw foreign investment and expand manufacturing beyond its traditional reliance on extractive industries.
