Kaluga plant “Crystal” complained to the Federal Antimonopoly Service about the manufacturer of bitters Jägermeister

The Kaluga distillery (KLVZ) Kristall has filed a complaint with the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) for violating antimonopoly law against the German company Mast-Jägermeister SE, the manufacturer of herbal liqueur (bitter) Jägermeister, follows from the message of the company. It says that a foreign group is putting pressure on the manufacturer and retailers, trying to ban Kristall from producing its own bitters under the Alter Heiler and Konig Heiler brands in Russia, and wholesalers and retail chains from selling these products.

“TKM, which represents the interests of Mast-Jägermeister SE, in its appeals to retailers calls our products counterfeit and demands that they, no less, withdraw it from circulation,” says Artem Chubukin, general director of KRVZ Kristall. According to him, the company regards this as pressure on trading partners, some of which are suspending cooperation due to the risk of Western sanctions. Chubukin says the company is ready for litigation.

At the disposal of Vedomosti there are letters addressed to distributors and KLVZ Kristal with demands to withdraw from circulation bitters with labels similar to the trademarks of Mast-Yagermaster S.E. LLC. Requests to the FAS and TKM LLC remained without prompt comments.

In early November, Vice-President of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia Sergey Mironov, citing distributors and a number of industry representatives, said that the manufacturer Jägermeister officially suspended the supply of its liquor to Russia, but Russian companies are able to arrange its supply under the parallel import scheme. In October, KLVZ brought new brands of bitters to the Russian market: it began exclusive supplies of Alter Heiler to the Krasnoe and Beloe chain, and Konig Heiler to the Verny, Pyaterochka chains, and so on. Vedomosti sent a request to Verny and X5 group.