The first 10 months of 2024 have seen record sales of alcohol among Russian consumers, according to calculations made by the local alcohol regulator, with wine and vodka driving retail sales. Eugene Gerden reports. In 2024, almost 2 billion litres of alcohol were sold in the Russian retail, which is the highest figure since 2017, according to calculations made by the local alcohol regulator Rosalkogoltobakkontrol (RATK). Vodka, as well as still and sparkling wines, are the top sellers. According to the latest statistics of the Russian RBC Vino business paper cited by RATK, 1.84 billion litres of alcoholic drinks were sold at retail in Russia from January to October this year. Vodka demonstrated record sales in 2024. In just 10 months 625 million litres of the spirit were sold, breaking the 2017 record high of 542 million litres. Record sales were also observed for still and sparkling wines. Still wine sales for the first 10 months of 2024 amounted to 469m litres, 0.9% more than last year. Sales of sparkling wines increase to 163m litres over the same period. This equates to a 10.9% year-on-year rise for the same period, and a 61% increase on the first 10 months of 2017. In terms of output, according to data of RATK, 271m litres of still wine and 134.7m litres of sparkling wine were produced in Russia from January to October. According to the agency, these are the highest figures since 2017. As for individual categories of alcohol, the biggest growth in
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Wine
