During the first half of the year, vodka sales in Russia fell by 16.4%.
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The same case when you don’t know whether to raise a glass of joy or sorrow. In the first half of the year, sales of vodka in Russia fell by 16.4%, cognac – by 20.3% (compared to the same period in 2022). These are the data from EGAIS, a unified state automated information system for accounting for ethyl alcohol.
Igor Kosarev, president of the Union of Producers of Alcoholic Products, assures that we did not drink less. Here the matter is different.
– In the past and this year, sales of medicinal alcohol have increased sharply in the country, – says Igor Kosarev. – And 2/3 of this alcohol goes not for medical production, but for bottling of illegal alcoholic products. In particular, low alcohol cocktails. In recent months, they have been well known due to frequent poisonings, as it turned out that not only medicinal alcohol, but sometimes also methanol arrives there.
According to Kosarev, the production of low-alcohol cocktails is now on the rise. These drinks do not need excise duty, because the price of them is 10 times less than that of vodka. And many choose them for their low price.
– In the first half of 2023, the production of vodka decreased by 8.9%, and ethyl alcohol (which is intended for the alcohol industry and comes with an excise duty. – Ed.) – by 11.1%, – Igor Kosarev cites statistics. – That is, we see the “overflow” of the consumer towards illegal products in the form of low-alcohol cocktails. I don’t see any other reason. Even the fact that the country’s production of its own gin and whiskey is growing does not affect the general statistics of strong drink consumption, because they replace previous imports.
In fact, according to Rosalkogolregulirovanie, the retail sale of low-alcohol products in Russia is growing. In the first quarter of this year, 15% more was sold than in the same quarter of 2022.
Vadim Drobiz, head of the Research Center for Federal and Regional Alcohol Markets, believes that there is another reason.
– Last year in Russia there was an overproduction of strong alcohol, – assures Vadim Drobiz. – The market is saturated. Stocks in warehouses are sufficient, so wholesale sales have decreased.
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