OREANDA-NEWS By the end of June 2024, the total volume of wine supplies from the European Union (EU) to Russia fell to a minimum over the past 14 years and reached 6.3 thousand tons. The sharp decrease in exports of these alcoholic beverages to the Russian Federation is reported by the Izvestia newspaper, citing data from the EU Statistical Service (Eurostat).

On a monthly basis, wine supplies from the EU to the Russian Federation decreased by 25 percent. In particular, the volume of imports of these products from France during this period decreased nine times, to 12 tons, from Lithuania — 2.5 times, to 474.5 tons, from Latvia — 2.1 times, to 636 tons, from Portugal and the Czech Republic — by 40 percent, to 710 and 60 tons, respectively. In turn, wine exports from Poland fell by 33 percent to 952 tons, and from Germany by 20 percent to 417 tons.

At the same time, the volume of supplies from Italy and Spain in the first summer month showed the opposite dynamics. Wine exports to Russia from the first country increased by 1 percent over this period of time and reached 2.6 thousand tons, from the second — by 12 percent, to 284 tons.

The interviewed experts linked such dynamics primarily with the effect in Russia of high duties on imports of these alcoholic beverages from the United States and Europe. So, they recalled, at the end of July 2023, the Russian government raised the rate from 12.5 to 20 percent and from $ 1.5 per liter. In August 2024, the authorities once again increased the amount of duties on wine imports from "unfriendly" countries - this time to 25 percent and from $ 2 per liter. Such changes could not but affect the dynamics of wine supplies to Russia from European countries. Analysts called the June decline natural.