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.
