OREANDA-NEWS. August 02, 2011. Rosporebnadzor, the Russian trade and sanitary inspection, banned the import of 536,600 litres of Moldovan alcoholic beverages in the first seven months of 2011, as they allegedly did not meet the quality and safety parameters, according to a press release by the Russian sanitary service.

Meanwhile, 11.48 million litres of wine, brandy and brute wine had no impediments being marketed in Russia in June-July 2011.

The quantity of rejected alcoholic beverages is considerably smaller than in 2010. Rospotrebnadzor said that in 2010 it prohibited the import of over 2.2 million litres of wine, brandy and brute wines that purportedly failed to meet the quality and safety parameters, which accounts for less than one percent of the exported goods.

Owners of Moldovan wineries explained the decrease in the quantity of rejected alcoholic beverages by the enhancement of control over their quality. In addition, Russia is no longer the main sales market for the Moldovan alcoholic goods, ranking third after Ukraine and Belarus.

Data by the Agriculture Ministry show that, in the first half of 2011, Moldova exported 53.7 million litres of wine, most of which went to Belarus (19.3 million litres), Ukraine (15.5 million litres) and Russia (9 million litres).