Euromonitor: Russia’s beer market slumps 33% over 5 years in 2016

MOSCOW, Aug 9 (PRIME) -- Russia’s beer market contracted by about 33% to U.S. $7.9 billion in 2016 compared with 2011, researcher Euromonitor International said on Wednesday.

Beer consumption fell to 7.68 billion liters in 2016 from 10.3 billion liters in 2011. If the negative trend persists, Russia’s beer consumption may fall to 6.9 billion liters in 2021.

“The high level of illegal trade is one of the reasons for that as well as economic shocks that began in 2014 and are still a negative factor for the Russian economy and real disposable incomes of consumers. This…is not the reason for contraction of alcohol consumption in the country, as authorities are actually making efforts to fight alcohol consumption in Russia,” the company said citing researcher Georgy Grebinsky.

The trend for a healthy lifestyle has improved in Russia over the past few years, including promotion by bloggers, a growing number of fitness centers, and a better perception of healthy lifestyle. “Still, none of the mentioned reasons or even they all combined will not lead to that kind of a sharp contraction in consumption over such a short period of time (in future),” Grebinsky said.

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