Pavel Shapkin, chairman of the NAA, told Dow Jones that imports of alcoholic beverages in 2003 reached $800 million, of which 40 per cent was spent on wine, 20 per cent on brandy and 10 per cent on whisky. The remainder was shared between rum, tequila and gin.
Shapkin said that wine imports had grown by 30 per cent in each of the previous two years, and that a similar rate of increase was likely in the current year. France is the main western exporter of wine to the Russian market, while Moldova and Georgia are the biggest local suppliers.
In consumption terms, the NAA said that volumes had risen 4.4 per cent in 2003, and that this was likely to increase further in 2004 as the impact of new beer advertising began to be felt.
Beer adverts make up about 15 per cent of all the TV advertising in Russia, Shapkin said, adding that these adverts also had a beneficial effect on alcohol consumption in general - especially since it is illegal to advertise spirits on TV or via billboards and beer is far more expensive than the preferred local spirit, vodka.
But with alcoholism a major problem in Russia, driven in part by the widespread availability and low price of strong vodka, the revelation that beer and wine are taking an increasing share of the alcoholic drinks market in Russia will be welcome news.
Vodka still accounted for 65.5 per cent of all alcohol consumed in Russia last year, but this was down from 66.7 per cent in 2002 as wine consumption rose to 7.5 per cent from 7.1 per cent and beer to 23.8 per cent from 23.2 per cent.
In terms of domestic production, the NAA said that vodka and strong spirit output was also down last year, falling 3.3 per cent to 1.34 billion litres. Wine production increased 9.7 per cent to 365 million litres, while what it called low-alcohol beverage production rose 37.5 per cent to 459 million litres. Brandy production was up 32.9 per cent to 35 million litres while sparkling wine output was 88 million litres, up 8.3 per cent.