Producers will check the quality of alcohol on the Russians: the country was flooded with domestic alcohol

The rack with alcohol cannot be empty. Retailers understand that December is New Year’s month. No matter how difficult the year is, it is worth the first winter month to come – and that’s it, the Russians begin to prepare for the main holiday: they buy champagne for the table, choose wine as a gift. The demand for alcohol is naturally growing. Many foreign manufacturers left the Russian market and domestic companies began to increase the volume of their products: plus 10% in 11 months. How did they do it? Factories began to conduct experiments on customers: they release a batch of a completely new drink and look at the reaction of consumers. At the same time, the taste qualities of some drinks leave much to be desired. According to alcohol market experts, companies need time to get their hands on it.

Alcohol production in Russia increased by 10.8% in January-November. In particular, domestic companies increased the production of wine by 25%, vodka – by 5.3% over 11 months. How did Russian factories manage to increase production volumes so significantly?

If earlier on the store counter, let’s say, there were 4 types of gin, now at the same outlet the assortment has grown to 8, or even 10 positions. Moreover, it was possible to expand the range of drinks not only at the expense of domestic companies. Now on the shelves there are manufacturers from countries that have just entered our market.

For example, this year 20 new brands of gin appeared – these are only local (Russian) brands. Plus, 36 new brands of whiskey, 13 liquors, 7 brands of bitters… In addition, the range of alcohol is growing due to the fact that federal retail chains have doubled the supply of drinks from friendly countries after the departure of Western brands (alcoholic beverages are supplied from Turkey, Georgia, Argentina, etc.).

Although the parallel import of alcohol, which was only recently allowed, has not yet begun to work in full force, says Ivan Volkov, an independent expert on the alcohol market. According to him, there are countries that will gladly occupy the niche that has become vacant on the Russian alcohol market. For example, India is ready to replace some positions in strong alcohol. But full replacement takes time, money and effort.

The growth in alcohol production in Russia itself, first of all, is due to the increased demand for the products of retail chains that have lost imports.

“For example, Russian winemakers understood that a large number of requests would come for their products. The volume of production of domestic farms will grow both this year and next, because consumption is growing in the lower price segment. Many Russian producers have already seriously increased their assortment: if, for example, a company had 5-6 wines in its lineup, now it has 16. consumers themselves, who are ready to drink wine at a price of up to 700 rubles per bottle,” our interlocutor notes.

Volkov recalled that since 2014, Russia has embarked on the promotion of Russian wine, and now the trend has reached its climax. First of all, store shelves are filled with Russian wine of the low price segment in large volumes. The racks cannot be empty, and the buyer is not ready to pay a lot of money.

Restaurants and bars, as well as retail chains, cannot remain without alcohol on the eve of the New Year. When many imported brands left the domestic market, Russian factories began to urgently produce “disappearing” drinks.

“A large number of “raw goods” are being sold, which are not yet competitive. Now manufacturers are stuffing their hand, – continues the interlocutor of MK. – At the initial stage, the quality jumps very much: there are successful games, but there are objectively failed experiments. Such experiences are indispensable. Then everything will depend on whether the factories continue to hone their production, spend money on this, realizing that mistakes are inevitable. But, you need to understand that it is impossible to take and step 10 years ahead in terms of quality in a year.

As for prices, they increased by an average of 5-7% for stamps that enter the country through parallel imports, says Ivan Samoylenko, managing partner of B&C Agency. We are talking about brands that were included in the list of the Ministry of Industry and Trade as allowed for import without the consent of the copyright holder. It has become more difficult to import them into Russia, which led to an increase in prices. Domestic strong alcohol is often 30-40% cheaper than Western counterparts.

“It can be said unequivocally that the production of alcohol is the sector that most quickly navigated the situation with sanctions and is increasing production. The share of Russian products on the shelf is growing, while until recently it was difficult for Russian companies to compete with Western manufacturers,” the expert concludes.