Sparkling wine production in Russia increased by almost 29%
Source：RBC
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Moscow
Update Time：2024/07/07
During January-May 2024, 5.1 million deciliters of sparkling wine were produced in Russia. This is 28.8% more than in the first 5 months of 2023. This data is provided by Rosalkogoltabakcontrol (RBC Vino has it).
The growth in grape wine production in the first five months of 2024 amounted to 17.2%. A total of 13.3 million decaliters were produced, and for the same period in 2023 - 11.3 million decaliters.
Strong drinks showed significant growth, especially in the alcoholic beverages category (+30%). The volume of vodka production in January-May 2024 increased by 6.1% and amounted to 28.8 million decaliters compared to 27.1 million decaliters in the same period last year. In the cognac segment, the growth was 8.7% (3.6 million decaliters in January-May 2024 versus 3.1 million decaliters in January-May last year).
In general, the volume of alcohol production in the first five months of 2024 increased by 13.5% compared to January-May 2023 and amounted to 75.2 million decaliters.
In relative terms, the largest growth was demonstrated by the liqueur wine category. Over the specified period of time, output increased by more than 1.8 times. At the same time, in absolute figures, only 654 thousand dal of liqueur wines were produced.
As RBC Wine reported, in 2023 the production of sparkling wines in Russia decreased by 13% per year, still wines by 8%, and liqueur wines by 20%. The total production of grape, sparkling and liqueur wines (excluding bulk wine) decreased by 10% compared to the previous year, to 45 million decaliters.
According to the National Credit Ratings agency, in general, the production of Russian wine products in 2018–2023 decreased by 29%, but its structure has qualitatively improved. Thus, the share of grape-containing drinks in the total volume of wine production has decreased over six years from 33% to 1%. This became possible due to the ban on the use of imported wine materials as part of the implementation of the law on wine. As noted in the study, producers switched to still, sparkling and liqueur wines, the share of which increased by an average of 27 percentage points between 2018 and 2023. Over six years, the production of liqueur wines immediately jumped 11 times and amounted to 0.9 million decaliters at the end of 2023.
In 2024, large Russian wine producers had problems with retail chains due to the pricing policy for wine as a result of changes in the excise tax. This was stated by the owner of the Abrau-Durso Group of Companies, Boris Titov.
“Now the big ones have a problem with their networks. Small ones have always had problems with networks, but now, in connection with the excise tax, there are discussions about networks and the pricing policy that networks are pursuing as a result of changes in excise taxes. But nevertheless, I think these are temporary difficulties that, of course, we will overcome,” Titov said.
As RBC reported, the Russian authorities decided to increase excise taxes on wine. From May 1, 2024, their rates have tripled. According to the changes, the excise tax on still wines has increased more than threefold - from 34 to 108 rubles. for 1 liter, from January 1, 2025 - up to 112 rubles, from January 1, 2026 - up to 116 rubles. The tax rate on sparkling wines has also tripled - from 45 rubles. for 1 liter up to 141 rub. from May 1 this year. From January 1, 2025, the excise tax will increase further - to 147 rubles. for 1 liter, from January 1, 2026 - up to 153 rubles.
The Russian Ministry of Agriculture intends to develop the export of Russian wines in the long term, and considers the provision of Russian wine to the domestic market to be a priority task. The head of the ministry, Oksana Lut, told RIA Novosti about this.
“Of course, there are plans, but first we need to secure our market. Therefore, for now, our first priority is to provide the domestic market, in which the share of our wine is about 50% - both in money and in physical volume. Therefore, developing exports for wine is a long-term task,” commented Lut.
As RBC Wine previously reported, General Director of the Russian Export Center Veronika Nikishina noted an increase in demand for alcohol from Russia. At the same time, she said that strong alcohol rather than wine is popular abroad.
Also, during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, two agreements were signed on the supply of Russian vodka to Argentina.
Source: https://www.rbc.ru/wine/news/666205679a794700943621f6?from=newsfeed ; https://www.rbc.ru/wine/news/664f04999a79476d3c45a479 ; https://www.rbc.ru/wine/news/6662a5a19a7947c1bc313d2e?from=wine_newsfeed