18th AlcoCongress at Prodexpo 2023

07 / 02 / 2023

The 18th Russian Conference on the Alcoholic Beverages Market – AlcoCongress 2023 took place within the Prodexpo 2023 International Exhibition. The conference was organised by the Alcoexpert Analytical Group and EXPOCENTRE AO. 

The main topic of discussion was ‘Imports and its substitution with domestically produced products’. As the conference moderator, head of the AlcoCongress Organising Committee Yuri Yudich, noted in his opening remarks, imports of alcoholic beverages did not fall much last year. Everyone expected a drop, they said brands would disappear. But they haven't vanished. There is parallel import of wine, whiskey and brandy. At the same time import substitution should be considered. The current turbulence with imported alcoholic beverages is once again giving our producers a chance which must be used to bring in their own product, he is convinced. 

Ilya Smirnov, Head of Client Services Group at Nielsen Russia, a marketing company that measures the market in the FMCG industry, gave an overview of the industry market. According to him, last year both retailers and manufacturers faced problems related to higher prices, disruption of supply chains and problems with raw materials. Alcohol categories such as gin and brandy rose in monetary terms last year, while cognac and champagne fell by a quarter. And the expert called vodka the driver of the alcohol industry in 2022, which, as he noted, has not been growing for a long time, but there has been a shift in this trend. 

Elena Sarattseva, Deputy Head of Roskachestvo, Vyacheslav Mamontov, Executive Director of the Beer Producers Association, Kirill Kirakozov, Managing Director of Premier Management, and other experts spoke at the thematic sessions of AlcoCongress. They discussed a wide range of topics - from the development of Russian premium vodkas to the key aspects of import substitution in the brewing industry and the creation of organoleptic profiles (patterns) for Russian analogues of the world's alcoholic beverages. Many agreed that although imports have wavered but have held firm, a number of brands are still being flushed out of the market, and the issue of replacing some imported products with Russian equivalents will soon become more acute. 

AlcoCongress 2023 ended with the award ceremony for the winners of Prodexpo International Wine Competition & Guide

Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO


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