Russian alcohol output falls 1.8% as wine, vodka and cognac production declines
Russia produced 805.9 million decalitres of alcoholic beverages in January–September 2026, down 1.8% year on year. Fortified wine recorded the steepest contraction, while liqueur and cider output increased.
Total alcohol production declines
Russia produced 805.9 million decalitres of alcoholic beverages in January–September 2026, a decline of 1.8% from the same period of 2025, according to figures from Rosalkogoltabakkontrol reported by Finance Mail.ru. The total includes fermented products such as beer, beer-based beverages, cider, perry and mead.
Excluding those fermented categories, production fell more sharply. Russian plants made 111.8 million decalitres of alcoholic products excluding beer, beer-based beverages, cider, perry and mead, down 7.4% year on year. Output of spirits with an alcohol content above 9% reached 73.7 million decalitres, a decrease of 6.1%.
The figures show that the relatively modest decline in total industry output was supported by the much larger beer segment. Production of fermented beverages slipped only 0.8% to 694 million decalitres, compared with the 7.4% contraction recorded across the other alcohol categories.
Wine and spirits record broad declines
Finmarket reported that Russian wineries produced 24.6 million decalitres of grape wine during the nine-month period, 8% less than a year earlier. Sparkling wine production declined 5.6% to 11.5 million decalitres. Fortified wine showed the steepest reduction among the reported wine categories, falling 42.6% to 563,700 decalitres, while fruit wine output dropped 30.8% to 804,300 decalitres.
Vodka production reached 48.9 million decalitres, down 6.7% year on year. Finance Mail.ru noted that the rate of decline had slowed from 12.1% after the first eight months. This indicates that September reduced the cumulative shortfall, although nine-month output remained below its 2025 level.
Cognac production decreased 13.5% to 4.9 million decalitres. Liqueur and other distilled beverage production moved in the opposite direction, rising 4.9% to 14.1 million decalitres. Low-alcohol beverages registered another pronounced fall: output dropped to 510,400 decalitres from 1.1 million decalitres a year earlier, representing a contraction of almost one-half.
Beer remains comparatively stable
Beer production declined 0.6% to 593.1 million decalitres, while beer-based beverages fell 3.3% to 88.4 million decalitres. Their scale meant that these relatively limited reductions had a strong influence on the overall industry result. Beer alone accounted for most of the 694 million decalitres produced in the fermented beverage group.
Cider, perry and mead were the main area of growth, with combined production increasing 7.5% to 12.5 million decalitres. Cider output rose 7.6% to 9.1 million decalitres and mead increased 8.6% to 3.3 million decalitres. Perry was the exception, falling 13.7% to 150,200 decalitres. For producers, processors and distributors, the nine-month data point to sharply different conditions across categories: beer volumes were broadly stable and cider and mead expanded, while wine, vodka, cognac and low-alcohol drinks remained under pressure.
