Nemiroff, one of the largest Ukrainian producers of alcoholic beverages, increased sales of vodka in Ukraine and on international markets by 12% in 2021 compared to 2020, to 5.63 million 9-liter cases (international unit for measuring alcohol – a box with 12 bottles totaling 9 liters), which corresponds to 50.67 million liters of vodka.
“Many factors contributed to the growth, including the strengthening of the brand’s position in the premium segment, entering new markets and the gradual recovery of the HoReCa and Duty Free segments after the start of the pandemic,” Nemiroff CEO Yuriy Sorochynsky told Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
He also said that the company entered 10 new export markets in 2021. In addition, last year the Nemiroff brand was recognized by IWSR as the fastest growing international spirits brand in the world.
According to Sorochynsky, the company’s sales in the Duty-Free and Travel Retail segments showed upward dynamics, where Nemiroff has been in the top three vodka brands in the world since 2016. Total sales in this area returned to growth last year (especially in the premium segment) after a decrease in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company’s strategy also includes the development of a culture of mixology – the preparation of alcoholic cocktails, including at home.
According to Nemiroff, the company is one of the world’s largest vodka brands, one of the top three global vodka suppliers in the Duty Free&Travel Retail segment. According to Asnilsen Ukraine, Nemiroff is the No. 1 brand in Ukraine for the period from January 2020 to July 2021 in monetary terms and in bottles in the vodka category. The company sells its products in more than 80 countries.
The decrease in vodka production in 2020 by 6.7% compared to 2019, to 44.5 million liters (in terms of pure alcohol) with an increase in its consumption and alcohol production by 36%, to 9.3 million decaliters, indicates the growth of the illegal alcohol market, Head of the State Fiscal Service Vadym Melnyk has said at a meeting with business representatives. According to him, in 2013-2020 production of vodka decreased by 2.5 times, alcohol – 2.8 times, and the excise tax on these products increased threefold.
Melnyk recalled that in order to combat illegal excisable goods, the service launched the Alcohol operation on February 1, 2021, during which law enforcement officers seized 226 tonnes of alcohol, 134 tonnes of alcoholic drinks, 547,000 packs of tobacco products and more than 8,000 excise duty stamps.
He clarified that for the period from February 1 to February 25, 2021, the Fiscal Service identified 53 websites with offers of illegal alcohol, 21 Internet ads were removed from websites. The courts are considering 12 petitions to restrict access to almost a hundred websites, one court decision was received with an appeal to the provider to stop illegal trade.
The head of the service noted the prevalence of online sales of illegal alcohol and its transportation through delivery services. He informed about the plans of the State Fiscal Service to work out a solution to reduce transportation of illegal excisable goods, without restricting the activities of carriers.
According to Melnyk, most of the seized alcohol was produced under the brands of the producers Prime, Lubotinn, Oleksandriya and Zlatogor.
In addition, he noted the facts of repeated confiscation of the previously seized products with the same excise stamps, as well as cases of theft of illegal products from storage sites and their incomplete utilization.
