Carlsberg warns Russia on plastics ban Russia risks deterring foreign investors in all industries if it passes a proposed ban on plastic bottles, Carlsberg's chief executive has warned. Half of Carlsberg's beer sales in Russia, its biggest market, are in plastic bottles and Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen, head of the Danish brewer, said a ban would make no sense. I would be surprised if the PET [plastic bottle] ban would come into force. There is no logic behind it. It would really be an issue for people investing in Russia and it would make people in other categories a little nervous," Mr Rasmussen told the Financial Times at an investor event in Russia. Carlsberg has suffered from regulatory problems in Russia before. Sales at Baltika, the biggest beer brand in Europe which it has just finished acquiring fully, dropped after the Russian government unexpectedly tripled beer taxes to help combat alcoholism two years ago and an advertising ban on television, radio, billboards and the internet will soon come into force. The Danish group parachuted in Isaac Sheps, who had turned around Carlsberg in the UK, to help stop the rot in Russia where Baltika recorded four successive quarters of declining market share. The ban was first proposed more than a year ago becaue of claims - disputed by companies and scientists - that carcinogens from the plastic bottles could leak into drinks. Mr Sheps said that if it did take place it would be phased in over a long period, allowing the brewer to shift sales into cans or glass bottles. Mr Sheps also hailed small rises in Baltika's Russian market share in the first two quarters of the year as a sign that it was back "on a positive trend" although it still lagged behind last year's numbers. Carlsberg's share in Russia was 37.8 per cent in the first half of 2012 compared with 39.2 per cent a year earlier. It reached a nadir of 37.2 per cent at the end of last year. Some investors have criticised Carlsberg for being too dependent on Europe - which including Russia accounts for 80 per cent of its sales - whereas other brewers had made big pushes into fast-growing regions such as Africa or Latin America. Mr Buhl Rasmussen said Carlsberg would expand further in Asia, which represents 18 per cent of volume currently, and that together with eastern Europe it had nearly 60 per cent of its business in emerging markets. But he ruled out a push into Africa or Latin America. Being in Africa in one way would be nice. But when you talk about being in Russia being a risk, volatile, difficult to predict, Africa [is the same] ... I don't think we need to get into Africa or Latin America for growth," he told investors.