Named the scale of growth in purchases of alcohol in Russia

The expert explained why our citizens do not save on alcohol

No matter how inflation twists us into a ram’s horn, no matter how our income dives down and our wallets grow thin, we still find an excuse to take a glass or two. This is evidenced by statistics: for 11 months of this year, compared to the same period last year, retail sales of vodka increased by 6% in the country.

In physical volume, this amounts to almost 70 million decaliters – a small but deep lake in which it is easy to drown if you do not know how to swim, or rather, you do not know the limits.

For other positions of alcohol, the trend is the same. Sales are on the rise. Demand for champagne increased by 8.5% – this fact can be somehow explained by stocks created for the New Year. The hour is uneven, prices for sparkling and fizzy at the end of the month may jump. But why did the sales of cognac rise by 4.5% and by about the same amount of low-alcohol drinks? There is no obvious answer… But what surprised me the most was the growth in sales of liqueur wines – up to 10.2 million deciliters, almost 30% in 11 months.

The situation is from the category of obvious-incredible. Opinion polls that appear almost every day all testify as one: Russians have massively switched to saving mode. On every corner we shout that the purchasing power of people is falling, as well as real incomes, that products are becoming unaffordable for some segments of the population. Finally, in order to make ends meet, we refuse to go to the hairdresser or to the cinema, we extend the period of wearing leaky shoes and boots …

And there is money for drinks! Although vodka is not getting cheaper either. Compared to last year, the price has risen by 6%. True, according to one of the opinion polls, it turns out that only every 10th Russian noticed this rise in price. Against the backdrop of double-digit overall food inflation, 6% is next to nothing. This is where our food industry has a lot to learn from the alcoholic beverage industry: how they regulate supply and demand.

We asked Doctor of Medical Sciences Dmitry Edelev to comment on the phenomenon of the mysterious Russian soul.

– I would not directly link the increase in retail sales of alcohol with its consumption, – he said. – As you know, in Russia in recent years, large-scale measures have been taken to legalize the alcohol market, removing it from the gray zone. Here and excises, and other measures. They made it possible to sharply increase the accounting and movement of such products. After all, a few years ago there was a huge number of underground industries in the country, which are closed today, the market is becoming more transparent. Hence the increase in official sales figures.

– You want to say that we did not necessarily drink more compared to previous periods, but simply increased control?

– Without a doubt. A unified federal database has appeared, previously it was scattered across the subjects of the Federation. Trade networks are developing, hypermarkets are gradually replacing small retail trade. I won’t say it’s that great. But all sales data is immediately entered into a single database. In retail chains, any possibility of selling shadow alcohol is excluded.

– Nevertheless, the Russians have recently begun to drink more …

– I do not argue. There is a certain psychological tension in society. If last year, according to various measurements, it was present in 35% of Russians, now, according to a recent poll by VCIOM, it is more than 70%. Uncertainty about the future, the unpredictability of one’s future, the expectation of a worsening situation – all this is a fertile breeding ground for such stress. Which our fellow citizens traditionally “remove” by increasing alcohol consumption.

For example, in Russia there are a large number of single-industry towns, where the entire social sector is based on a single large enterprise. Its economy has staggered as a result of Western sanctions or for some other reason – the whole city is on pins and needles. Everyone is wondering what will happen tomorrow, will the workplace remain? And they go to the store “to drown grief.”

However, going into alcoholic non-existence does not solve the problem, but postpones it “for later”. Like morbidity in medicine. If the disease is not immediately cured, it becomes chronic and proceeds with more severe consequences.

But this is not unique to Russia. This is a global trend. Due to the financial or energy crisis, rising food prices, citizens of other countries also find solace in a bottle. In this regard, we are no different from Europeans.