Russian brewers plan to increase exports on an annual basis, industry officials said at an all-Russian meeting on developing Russia's brewing industry in Moscow on March 18, according to Interfax. Russian breweries export to 32 countries, Vladimir Kaishev, the head of the Agriculture Ministry's food and processing industry department, said. Russia exported 24 million liters in 2001, 55 million in 2002 and 100 million in 2003. "We were pleasantly surprised that Russian beer has started to become popular in Germany," he said.

Russia is to increase beer production 4% year-on-year to 7.6 billion - 7.65 billion liters in 2004, Vyacheslav Mamontov from the Russian Brewers' Union told Interfax in December 2003. According to preliminary information, the country may produce 7.3 billion liters of beer in 2003, compared with 7.02 billion liters in 2002. "The real production figure for this year will be known in the first quarter 2004," he said. Mamontov noted that growth in production has slowed recently. He said that this is largely due to the state's taxation policy, and particularly excise duty policy in recent years, Over the past few years the excise duty on beer has been indexed higher than the forecast level of inflation, he said. "For example, in 2003 inflation was planned at 15%, and the excise rate on all goods was increased by 15%, but on beer - by 25%," Mamontov said.

Russia currently has about 300 breweries, of which 20 are large concerns and the rest - small and mid-sized breweries. The Union of Russian Brewers unites companies accounting for 85% of the country's beer production.

19 March, 2004