Bacardi disappears from shelves – Kommersant FM

Stores are out of Bacardi rum and Gray Goose vodka. Bacardi has also stopped supplying Bombay Sapphire gin, RBC writes. We are talking about the assortment of the X5 Group, which includes the Pyaterochka and Perekrestok chains; the publication also studied the offer of the Magnit and Krasnoe & Beloe stores.

Bacardi remains the only transnational alcohol company that officially continues to operate in the country after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, but supply volumes are quite modest, noted Vadim Drobiz, director of the Center for Research of Federal and Regional Alcohol Markets: “Products are still supplied, perhaps in smaller volumes. Drinks from Bacardi already came in very small volumes. No one has ever really seen Gray Goose vodka in Russia, that is, there are some hundreds of thousands of bottles. As for rum and gin, the supply volumes of these products are also extremely small – within 1 million liters. Therefore, it cannot be said that the Russian market has lost something, these are just expensive branded products. Huge amounts of money have been invested in its promotion, and that is why it is well known. There are quite enough other similar Western products from parallel imports, which will completely replace outdated brands for consumers.”

In 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from Russian customs, that Bacardi Rus imported $170 million worth of products into the country. The list of goods allowed for parallel imports by the Ministry of Industry and Trade now includes whiskey Jack Daniel’s, Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker, Chivas. It is possible that in recent days, retailers have encountered a temporary disruption in the supply of drinks, suggested Ruslan Bragin, a member of the Guild of Marketers and an expert on the marketing of strong alcohol:

“Perhaps the importer once brought in a large stock, and then it ran out. The next thing that could happen: the truck did not arrive and did not deliver to several stores. Nowadays it is no longer the case that trucks move like clockwork.

For example, the Irish government subsidizes lost profits to companies so that they do not supply goods to Russia. Market shares are changing. For example, Macallan whiskey is now in short supply, but Indian and Chinese drinks have appeared, whiskey from Slovenia, and from some countries atypical for this drink. Very interesting trends have emerged due to import substitution. For example, every major manufacturing company that has bottling capacity makes its own whiskey. As a rule, this is an inexpensive or middle segment. A huge amount of whiskey is brought here in tanks and bottled locally, meaning all our distilleries, instead of large corporations that have stopped marketing activities, various listings, sponsorships and so on, are occupying their niches.”

Now Bacardi continues to bring to Russia mainly an assortment from its Italian portfolio – these are vermouths and sparkling wines under the Martini brand, writes RBC. In addition, some brands owned by Bacardi are manufactured in Russia. This is William Lawson’s whiskey, bottled at the facilities of the Novabev Group, and Oakheart rum, produced by the Tula Distillery.

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Svetlana Belova