OREANDA-NEWS. Belarus decreased the output of vodka, hard liquor, fermented beverages (fruit wines, mixed drinks with alcohol content) year on year in January-August 2013, while the output of brandy, cognac, sparkling wine and grape wine was on the rise, an official with Belarus' National Statistics Committee (Belstat) told.

Belarus' vodka and hard liquor output decreased 9.4% on the year in January-August 2013 to 8.914 million decaliters; fermented beverages - down 9.1% to 7.649 million dal.

In the period, cognac output amounted to 198,000 dal, up 18.6%. “Cognac” is a name used to denote a type of brandy in the former Soviet Union. The output of grape wines grew 11.5% year on year in January-August 2013 to 1.888 million dal, sparkling wines - 1.047 million dal, up 2.5%.

Inventories of vodka and other liquors reduced 7.7% on the month to 1.938 million decaliters as of September 1, 2013, 173.9% of the average monthly output. Stock reserves of cognac stood at 70,000 decaliters (down 21.3%), 2.8 times the average monthly output, sparking wines - up 18.4% to 193,000 dal (147.5% of the average monthly output), grape wines - down 5.7% to 296,000 (125.4%), fermented drinks - down 31.9% to 342,000 dal, 35.8% of the average monthly output.

Belarus' sales of alcohol beverages and beer totalled Br15 trillion (USD 1.659 million) in Jan-Aug 2013, which accounts for 11.5% of the total retail turnover.

Vodka sales decreased 11.3% on the year in January-August 2013 to 7.084 million decaliters. Sales of other hard drinks fell 22.8% to 1.011 million decaliters; fruit wines - down 5% to 7.485 million dal; sparkling wines (including Champaign) - down 6.1% to 864,000 dal.

Sales of cognac went up 48.4% on the year to 233,400 decaliters; grape wines - up 14.7% to 2.359 million dal.

The share of vodka in the sales of alcoholic beverages in absolute alcohol terms in Belarus reduced by 2.7 percentage points from January-August 2013 to 46.9%. The share of other hard drinks stood at 5%, down 1.1% year on year. The share of grape wines in alcohol sales stood at 5.5% (up 1.0 percentage point).

The share of fruit wine in total sales of alcoholic beverages has remained unchanged year on year in January-August 2013. The share of cognac edged up 0.5 percentage points to 1.5%, and of champagne and sparkling wines remained unchanged at 1.6%.