INTERVIEW: Russia’s beer production unlikely to grow in 2022

MOSCOW, Nov 29 (PRIME) -- Russian beer producers don’t expect an increase in output in 2022 as production costs are rising, Vyacheslav Mamonton, head of the Association of Beer Producers, told PRIME on Tuesday.

“In January–September, Russian beer breweries produced 648.8 million decaliters of beer according to the Federal State Statistics Service, which is an insignificant increase of 2.9% compared with the same period last year. We expect the final production volume in 2022 to remain flat on last year when it reached 816 million decaliters,” he said.

Beer sales increased by 0.8% in the period in physical terms and by 14% in the monetary terms.

The price growth for raw materials started in 2021 because of the logistics problems during the coronavirus pandemic, while external challenges contributed significantly this year. The increase in the cost of production will continue exerting pressure next year, the prime costs price will rise, although predicting retail prices is difficult, he said.

The government’s introduction of an excise on sugary non-alcoholic beverages in 2023 will lead to contraction of production of non-alcoholic beer and to an 11% increase of its price, he said.

He said that imports would contract noticeably in 2022.

“Regarding imports, it amounted to 42.9 million decaliters in 2020 and exceeded 50 million decaliters in 2021. This year the amount should contract significantly,” he said, adding that imports account for only 1.5–2% of beer sales in the country.

Mamontov also said that the beer industry needs state support because of the possible mandatory introduction of digital marking of beer, which the Industry and Trade Ministry wants to be launched on April 1, 2023. Also, the industry needs national hop growing to be restored almost from scratch.

“A significant amount of investment in the form of loans and subsidies is necessary for that. It is difficult to find long-term money on such a scale without state support,” he said.

End