Russian Import Alcohol Market Growing By 25% Annually

The import alcohol market in Russia is growing by 25% annually, according to Head of Marketing Research at Svarog Andrey Stepanov at a press conference at the Astoria hotel in St. Petersburg on Friday. Svarog is the official distributor of Spanish wine company Torres in Russia. Stepanov said that by 2004 the rate of growth of the market will slow to 20-25% annually.

He also said that in 2002 the total sales of closed joint stock company Svarog, specializing in the wholesale trade of alcoholic beverages in Russia, was approximately USD 20 million, or 30,000 nine-liter boxes of alcoholic beverages. The total market share of Svarog of the St. Petersburg market of imported alcohol for foreign countries, excluding Moldavia, Armenia and other CIS countries, is 25%.

'Svarog is the leader on the St. Petersburg market, Mozzel is next, followed by Rusimport,/i>, Marinexpress, Whitehall and Graf Trading. Svarog owns 8% of the Russian market overall, making it one of the top three companies in terms of Russian market share. The leader is Rusimport with 15% market share,' said Stepanov.

He also said that in 2003 Svarog intends to increase its total trade turnover by 20-25%. The company plans to increase imports of wine from China, aimed at mass consumption. The company has cooperated with China since 2001 and at the current time approximately 2,500 nine-liter boxes leave China each month. In 2003 Svarog plans to double the total trade turnover of Chinese wine, and expand its assortment of Chilean wines for wholesale prices of USD 6 to USD 50 per bottle and export on the Russian market a new brand of Chilean wine Errasuris.