The brandy market has changed its leader

Stellar Group (Old Barrel, Monte Choco brands) took the first place in the Russian cognac and brandy market. According to the results of January-April 2023, the group produced 556,300 deciliters, which is 0.1% less than the same period in 2022, according to Rosstat data, which Vedomosti has read. Stellar Group managed to take the first line against the backdrop of a sharp drop in the production of the former leader – Alvisa Group of Companies (Elder, Kinovsky). The company dropped to second place, reducing production by 27.6% to 536,700 deciliters.

The third place was taken by the Alliance-1892 company (Old Koenigsberg brand), which produced 425,400 decaliters, the fourth place was taken by the Kizlyar Cognac Factory with 230,500 decaliters.

It was possible to take the first place due to effective work with retailers, said Alexandra Grevtsova, Commercial Director of Stellar Group. She noted that part of the imported brands left the market, which affected sales volumes. The positive contribution of the departure of foreign brands to the sale of Russian cognac was also noted by the president of Ladoga, Veniamin Grabar. The termination of work in Russia, in particular, was announced by Pernod Ricard, the manufacturer of Martell cognac.

In the first quarter of 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, brandy sales in physical terms increased by 7%, and Stellar Group products made the largest contribution to this, according to NielsenIQ data. Absolute values ​​of analytics are not given.

Alvis did not respond to Vedomosti’s requests. According to the results of the first five months of 2022, the company ranked first among cognac producers, Kommersant wrote. The decline this year may be due to a smaller assortment of the group’s products on the shelves of retailers, suggests an interlocutor in one of the cognac producers.

Stellar Group is a company that produces vodka, cognac and other alcoholic beverages. Consolidated financial performance of Stellar Group is not disclosed. The revenue of the Russian legal entity LLC SG Rus increased by 77% to RUB 18.7 billion, and that of another subsidiary, LLC SSB, by 60% to RUB 9.2 billion.

GC “Alvisa” – to produce cognac, vermouth, whiskey and other alcoholic products. Its consolidated financial performance is also not disclosed. According to the results of last year, the revenue of the main company of the group Alvisa LLC increased by 73% – up to 19.3 billion rubles, net profit amounted to 2 billion rubles.

At the same time, the total production of cognac in January-April 2023 decreased by 9.2% compared to the same period in 2022, to 2.8 million deciliters, according to Rosstat data. The main reason is the lack of raw materials and the increase in the price of its logistics, said Stanislav Kaufman, owner of the Kaufman branding agency. Vadim Drobiz, director of the Center for Research on Federal and Regional Alcohol Markets, noted that there was no noticeable drop in the production of this drink, and the dynamics of individual producers is most likely related to the excess production of cognac in 2022. Then the companies tried to replace foreign products, explains Drobiz.

It was possible to increase sales with a decrease in production due to last year’s stocks, explains Grevtsova. In 2022, Russian companies produced 10.2 million deciliters, which is 13.5% more than a year earlier, according to Rosstat.