A Billion-Litre Plant Opens Near Almaty: Where Carlsberg and PepsiCo Put $344 Million

One of the region’s largest projects

A new Carlsberg Group and PepsiCo non-alcoholic beverage plant opened in Boraldai, Almaty Region, on 1 October. The investment is valued at $344 million, planned capacity is about one billion litres a year and more than 230 jobs are expected.

The ceremony took place during a Kazakhstan–Denmark business forum and was attended by Kazakh officials, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and company executives. Official statements describe the site as one of Carlsberg Group’s largest production facilities.

What it will make and where it may sell

The plant will produce drinks under PepsiCo licence. Products are intended for Kazakhstan as well as markets in the CIS and Central Asia. The local impact will also depend on demand for packaging, transport, equipment maintenance and domestic raw materials.

The project represents investment in local automated production rather than imports of finished goods. Energy-efficiency standards and export capacity matter, but the wider benefit will grow only if the factory builds a strong network of Kazakh suppliers.

Opening is not full production

The plant still has to complete trial operations and reach stable industrial utilisation. The one-billion-litre figure is design capacity, not an annual volume already achieved.

Three measures will now matter: actual line utilisation, the share of local procurement and the reach of exports. They will show whether the plant becomes a regional processing hub or remains a large but relatively isolated facility.

Source: Almaty Region administration