Vodka category has stagnated in Russia due to its illegal sales. The increased availability of economy vodka in Russia has supported the legalisation process of vodka’ s sales in the recent years. Tatspirtprom OAO, Synergya OAO are the leading competitors in the spirits category. Tatspirtprom has significantly increased the distribution of vodka brands such as Russkaya Valyuta and Xanskaya. Russian reviving economy and rising cafe culture are the major factors affecting the hot drink beverages sector, where hot drinks are hot coffee, hot tea and hot chocolate drinks. Hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, food & drinks specialists, e- Retailers and others account for the majority share in the distribution of hot drinks. Orimi Trade, Princess Gita, Ahmad Tea and Nestle are the leading players in the Russian hot drinks sector.
Consumption of soft drinks in Russia has decline due to price and consumers’ demanding for better products. Bottled water, popular soft drinks, sports and energy drinks and RTD coffee witnessed a growth while the growth other variants of soft drinks continued to decline. The juice and RTD tea category has remained weak due to the significant price increase. The soft drinks category includes Asian speciality drinks, bottled water, carbonates, concentrate juice, juice, RTD coffee, RTD tea, sports and energy drinks. Energy drinks category remained highly immature and has registered a slight growth in the recent years due to the wide distribution and consumer awareness. Dairy drinks, soy drinks, milk alternatives such as condensed milk, drinking yogurt, fermented milk, flavoured milk, grain nut rice and seed milk alternative drinks, soymilk, white milk are few other beverages available. It was observed that there is a minimal growth of these products in the Russian beverages market.
Many new laws regulating Russian beverages market were imposed in the past year. The major concern is the excise duty rates and usage of PET( Polyethylene terephthalate) for alcoholic products. The excise duties on most of alcoholic drinks is raised and on the exported ingredients used for making beverages. Russia bans production and sales of alcoholic products in plastic bottles. Alcoholic drinks category in Russia has declined in terms of volume and sales in the recent years due to decline in consumes’ spending income. The government ' s antialcohol policy has also reduced the consumer’ s purchasing power.
Spirits category in alcoholic drinks has witnessed a marginal decline due to the illegal sales of vodka’ s. Cider / perry category has developed dynamically in Russia. Majority of the Russian consumers are demanding for economy products across all categories due to the country’ s economic conditions. It was observed that there was a stiff competition across all categories of alcoholic drinks. The domestic companies are actively developing and collaborating with international giants. The small independent players in Russia are dynamically developing in the beer sector. Many domestic players in wine category are gaining momentum and enjoying the Russian legislative privileges of low excise tax. The imported brands in spirits, RTD’ s and