Russian alcohol output falls 2.4% in January-July as wine production drops 11.3%
Russia produced 624.9 million decalitres of alcoholic beverages in January-July 2026, down 2.4% year on year. Grape wine output fell 11.3% and vodka production declined 4.6%, while cider and liqueur-based spirits recorded growth.
Wine records the steepest decline
Russia produced 624.9 million decalitres of alcoholic beverages in January-July 2026, a decrease of 2.4% from the same period of 2025, according to data from Rosalkogoltabakkontrol reported by Interfax. The contraction covered wine, vodka, cognac, beer and several other categories, although cider, mead and liqueur-based spirits expanded.
The wine industry recorded some of the sharpest declines. Grape wine production fell 11.3% year on year to 18.6 million decalitres. Sparkling wine output decreased 8.9% to 7.9 million decalitres, while liqueur wine production dropped 36.1% to 479,200 decalitres. Fruit wine output was down 34.6% at 569,600 decalitres.
The figures indicate that the downturn was broad rather than limited to a single wine category. Producers of still grape wine accounted for the largest volume affected, while the much steeper percentage declines in liqueur and fruit wines came from smaller production bases. For wineries, processors and distributors, the data point to reduced domestic availability across several product tiers during the first seven months of the year.
Vodka, cognac and low-alcohol drinks contract
Russian plants produced 36.1 million decalitres of vodka, 4.6% less than a year earlier, Interfax reported. Cognac output declined 8% to 3.7 million decalitres. Overall production of spirits with an alcohol content above 9 degrees fell 3.1% to 54.7 million decalitres.
Liqueur-based spirits were the main exception among major strong-alcohol categories. Their output increased 7.7% to 10.4 million decalitres. By contrast, production of low-alcohol beverages fell 1.9 times to 485,000 decalitres, marking a substantially sharper contraction than the decline in the wider spirits segment.
Excluding beer, beer-based beverages, cider, perry and mead, Russia produced 82.8 million decalitres of alcohol in January-July. That was 6.7% below the previous year, showing that the headline decline of 2.4% was moderated by the much larger fermented-beverage segment.
Beer slips while cider and mead grow
Production of fermented products decreased 1.8% to 542.1 million decalitres. Beer, the largest category in the data, fell 1.7% to 463.7 million decalitres, while beer-based beverages declined 3.7% to 69.3 million decalitres. Even relatively small percentage changes in these categories have a large effect on total alcohol output because of their production scale.
Cider, perry and mead together increased 9.7% to 9.1 million decalitres, but performance within the group differed. Cider output rose 11.3% to 6.4 million decalitres and mead production increased 7% to 2.5 million decalitres. Perry moved in the opposite direction, falling 12.6% to 123,200 decalitres.
The January-July figures therefore show a divided Russian alcohol market. High-volume beer production edged lower, key traditional categories such as grape wine, vodka and cognac contracted more strongly, and a limited group of products gained output. Producers and distributors will need to track whether growth in cider, mead and liqueur-based spirits reflects a lasting shift in the product mix or only offsets part of the declines elsewhere.
