Coca-Cola says Russia is set to become one its top five global markets

Zoran Vucinic, President of Coca Cola Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, speaking with Business RT, claims Russia will leap from its current 12th place globally by volume as early as 2014.

The firm's regional head also revealed details to build a new bottling plant in Southern Russia this spring. But with demand falling in the financial crisis, its will start with reduced capacity.

“We are continuing to build this cathedral that we want to build, and part of that is a plant in Rostov. The numbers are a little bit shifting. Definitely we're starting up, but we will now size it to what we think the volume will be. In five to ten years we hope, if we do things right, to be over time to be in the top five worldwide. Simply the size of the market suggests that, so the question is not if but when.”