Wine prices increased by an average of 17% during the year; Maxim Chernigovsky told NSN that most people do not have the opportunity to regularly buy alcohol legally.
Maxim Chernigovsky, associate professor of the Faculty of Management at the Presidential Academy (RANEPA) in St. Petersburg, who is also the head of the club of alcohol market experts, told NSN that when the price of legal alcohol increases, when sales restrictions are imposed, sales of illegal products will increase.
In January-November 2025 in Russia, the number of new licenses to sell spirits in retail and public catering stores fell by a quarter compared to the same period last year, to 10.5 thousand. Experts say this is mainly due to reduced demand for these products due to rising prices. Restrictions on alcohol sales in some regions of the country also played a negative role, writes Kommersant. Chernigovsky explains what caused the decline in the legal alcohol market.
“When the price of legal alcohol increases, when sales restrictions are imposed, sales of illegal products increase. Indirect evidence is the increase in sales of moonshine and increase in sales of hangover pills. Consumption is not decreasing, official retail sales are decreasing. For large cities, the main channel for selling illegal products is the Internet. In Russia, the sale of alcohol on the Internet is banned, but for some reason this really only applies to products official products. And on the markets, they officially sell moonshine, etc. We have about five thousand websites selling illegal products,” he explained.
According to him, Russians are also afraid of legal alcohol because of the price.
“Alcohol prices have increased by an average of 17% during the year. Most citizens do not have the opportunity to regularly buy legal alcohol because it is expensive for them. The minimum retail price for a 0.5 liter bottle of vodka in Russia is 349 rubles. According to Rosstat, the average price is 420 rubles. On the Internet, you can buy a similar one of unknown quality for 150 rubles, and a bottle of moonshine can be bought in rural areas for 100 rubles. rubles. In some localities, there is no legal alcohol at all, if we are talking about rural areas,” he added.
In this regard, he called for increased control of raw materials entering the illegal alcohol market.
“Measures related to controlling the production of medical alcohol and ethyl alcohol are not at a high level. Parties infiltrate illegal production. Often, ethyl alcohol is sold, leading to mass poisoning and death. Therefore, it is necessary to solve the problem of raw material control”, the NSN interlocutor concluded.
The decline in alcohol consumption in Russia can be explained by the fact that Russians have switched from vodka and cognac to lighter drinks, such as beer and wine; Additionally, the statistics do not take into account the consumption of illegal alcohol, such as homemade wine and moonshine. Alexander Stavtsev, head of the WineRetail information center, told NSN about this.
