MONTERREY, MEXICO — Gruma SAB de CV in the early days of the Russia-Ukraine conflict suspended its expansion investment plans for its two manufacturing facilities in Stupino and Siberia in Russia as well as marketing expenses in that country.

“As a multinational food company, we have long recognized the essential role we play in making sure that families around the world have access to basic foods and ingredients,” the Monterrey-based company said. “To prevent the disruption of food supplies to Eastern European and Central Asian countries, such as Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Moldova, both plants in Russia continue to operate.”

Previously, Gruma had appeared on a list put together by the Yale School of Management that gave details on what actions corporations were taking in Russia. Gruma was under the “digging in” section, which meant companies that had neither exited Russia nor reduced activities in the country. Once Gruma sent a statement on its Eastern European actions to Yale March 28, the company was upgraded to “buying time,” which meant companies holding off on new investments and development.

In the early days of the crisis Gruma closed a corn mill at its Ukrainian subsidiary in the city of Cherkasy while continuing to pay employees their full salaries and providing additional pay to help employees’ families afford food and basic goods. A Gruma subsidiary in Spain implemented a temporary work plan to welcome Ukrainian Gruma employees who had to leave their country. Recently, selective operations at the Cherkasy mill in Ukraine have been restarted to supply corn grits for the first time directly to supermarkets and pork meat producers in local markets.