Wine supplies from the European Union to Russia fell by almost 40% – Kommersant

In the period from August 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024, the European Union (EU) reduced supplies of still and sparkling wines to Russia by 37.2% compared to the same period in 2022–2023. This is reported by RBC with reference to data from the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission. Over six months, EU countries supplied 1.19 million hl of wine to Russia, which was the minimum over the past five years.

The leading countries in wine supplies to the Russian Federation have not changed, but almost all of them have seen their volumes drop. Latvia remained the largest supplier, but it reduced imports by 44.3%, to 368.3 thousand hl of wine. Exports from Lithuania to Russia fell by 32.3%, to 299.1 thousand hl, from Italy – by 29.5%, to 295.5 thousand hl.

Poland increased imports the most, from where it imported 21.3% more products into the Russian Federation – 75.3 thousand hectoliters of still and sparkling wines. An RBC source among Russian alcohol importers explained this by saying that all the wine that suppliers bring from different countries as part of parallel imports is concentrated in Poland. In particular, Moet & Chandon wine is imported this way. The Czech Republic (by six times, to 968 hl), the Netherlands (by 4.2%, to 198 hl) and Belgium (by 933.3%, to 124 hl) also increased wine supplies to the Russian Federation.

In 2023, retail chains became leaders in the import of wine to Russia: chain retailers entered the top largest importers. In first place is X5 Group, which manages Pyaterochka and Perekrestok; the company imported 40 million liters of wine. It is followed by Magnit, whose imports amounted to 31 million liters.

Details are in the Kommersant FM article. “Retailers have squeezed out alcohol importers”.

Laura Keffer