Mondelez International has been forced to defend its presence in Russia after reportedly seeing customers in Norway say they will stop stocking its products.
Media outlets in Norway report airlines Norwegian Air and SAS, as well as railway operator SJ, have announced decisions to halt sales.
Coop Norge, Norway’s second-largest food retailer, said on Saturday (10 June) it had asked to meet the country’s government to discuss the issue.
Yesterday, Mondelez Norge, the Oreo maker’s local subsidiary, said it would write to government officials to outline its position and propose its own meeting.
“We hope and believe that this [Coop Norge’s request for a meeting] means that the debate focuses on objective criteria,” Chris Callanan, the CEO of Mondelez Norge, said.
“The fact is that international suppliers who are behind a significant part of the daily goods in Norway still maintain operations in Russia to varying degrees, without breaking sanctions.”
Mondelez owns the Norwegian snacks brand Freia. In its statement, Mondelez Norge said its “parent company, Mondelēz International, complies with all policy decisions and sanctions and will continue to consider necessary adjustments to operations to ensure full compliance”.
Callanan added: “We believe that official policy should be based on the formal sanctions regime and any adjustments to this in the future, and that all policy and official guidelines should be based on objective criteria that treat all companies equally.”
Freia products are manufactured at a facility in the Oslo suburb of Rodeløkka.
Mondelez says it does not sell products in Norway that are made in Russia, where it has “maintained a limited operation”.
Just Food has approached Mondelez for further comment. This publication has also asked Norwegian Air and SJ to confirm it has stopped selling Mondelez products. Coop Norge and another major Norwegian retailer, Rema 1000, have also been approached for comment.
