DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090471

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   54 lines

TOURING RUSSIAN CANDYMAKERS SHAKE HANDS WITH MR. PEANUT

It was the name that caused a bit of confusion: Planters.

``They at first thought they were coming to a plantation, a place where they grow peanuts,'' said Leonid N. Dobrokhotov, with a chuckle. ``Planters - plantation.''

There was obvious recognition, though, when they saw Mr. Peanut, the company's monocled symbol.

Dobrokhotov, an associate professor of American and Russian history at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Richmond, is serving as interpreter and guide for a group of Russian candy and cookie makers touring the United States.

The group - including corporate leaders of Babaevskoye, one of Russia's oldest candy makers - toured Planters Peanuts on Wednesday. They represent 19 companies in the Russian Federation of Confectioners.

Instead of the fields of peanuts, the

group saw carpets of plump peanuts rolling through cleaners and cookers along an automated assembly line. The line ended in bright blue cans with yellow labeling and an image of the dapper man with an international reputation - Mr. Peanut.

``There are no peanuts grown in Russia now,'' Dobrokhotov said. ``They are buying from China.''

But the guests knew Mr. Peanut.

``Your product is extremely popular in Russia,'' one of the confectioners said through the interpreter, as the others smiled and waved their hands. ``You do not have competition on the Russian market. Congratulations.''

The Russians had come from Fine Foods of Virginia (FFV) in Richmond, where they saw cookies manufactured, and were headed for Hershey, Pa., to see how American chocolate is made.

They now use primarily cashews in the candy they produce at the companies represented on the tour, but are interested in using more peanuts, Dobrokhotov said. The plants represented are located mostly around Moscow and along the country's Asian/European border.

And they were interested in everything about the modern, automated plant in Suffolk - from the percentage of waste to the temperature of the oil used to cook the nuts.

Debrokhotov explained that an average candy company in Russia produces chocolate and caramel and employs about 300 people. Nuts are an important ingredient in Russian candy.

Now - at a time when most Russians are more consumed with buying necessities than luxuries like candy - that figure is down by about 50 percent.

But Russian candy and confection makers are looking forward to better days, said Michael J. Thompson, with Old Dominion Tours. ILLUSTRATION: Color illustration

Mr. Peanut

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