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Alcohol Supervisor to Be Set Into Motion on New Year Eve
The federal supervisor of alcohol turnover in Russia, Gosalkokontrol, will be set into motion in late 2008, said Deputy Agriculture Minister Andrei Slepnev. The president’s decree on Gosalkokontrol creation has been drafted and submitted to the government.
The new agency will have new authority, including setting the minimal prices for alcohol and licensing the alcohol transportation. Under the government’s proposal, the retail price won’t be below 80 rubles per a bottle of vodka and the wholesale price will be at least 60 rubles.
A bottle of legal vodka will hardly cost less than 95 rubles next year. The segment of premium and low-premium vodka (from 160 rubles to 170 rubles a bottle) is likely to yield a portion of market share to cheaper vodka of illegal make. But the segment of super-premium vodka (above 240 rubles per a bottle) will survive, Alconews.ru forecasted.
Meanwhile, the beer industry is apparently the first victim of the government’s excise policy, according to Novy Region agency.
The beer output in Russia grew no more than 1 percent from January through September, which was the record low of the latest 18 years. No more than 908 million decaliters of beer were produced in the country from early 2008. But the growth appeared quite healthy in January through September of 2007, when it reached 18 percent.
The authorities have significantly tightened their grip over the alcohol market. In the Moscow Region, for instance, the cost of the license for selling alcohol has grown materially. Vendors used to pay 10,000 rubles for five years, but the license will cost 40,000 rubles in 2009 and 50,000 rubles in 2010.
www.kommersant.com
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