KRASNODAR, October 30. /TASS/. Two major retail chains in Germany, as well as speciality stores for Russian products, have started sales of wine produced in Russia’s Kuban, which was first supplied to the country in the spring of 2019, Fanagoria's Deputy CEO, Foreign Economic Activities, Mikhail Lelyuk told TASS on Wednesday.
"Wine sales started in two major retail chains of Germany — Rewe and Edeka," he said, adding that consumers may also find wine from the pilot batch in speciality stores in Germany where Russian-made products are sold.
Sales of Russian wine to Finland
Russia’s Krasnodar Region plans to start wine supplies to Finland’s national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in 2020, Director General of the Krasnodar Region Development Corporation Pavel Mayorov told TASS on Wednesday.
Earlier reports said that the Krasnodar Region would negotiate wine exports with the Finnish distributor of alcohol beverage products. Press service of the Krasnodar Region’s administration reported that the region’s delegation presented wines to the state monopoly company Alko within the framework of export cooperation talks last week.
"We will participate in all international exhibitions, plan to tap Finland’s restaurant segment, there are preliminary agreements with partners, hopefully Kuban’s wines will appear in Helsinki and other cities as early as this year. We plan several presentations in Finland this year, Christmas wine tasting. That will help build on the idea that the Russian wine is present on the European market by next spring, leaving no grounds for the state company not to purchase the Russian wine. It is planned that Kuban’s wine will be present in Finnish stores as early as in 2020," Mayorov said.
The fact that to be able to participate in tenders of the alcoholic beverage monopoly company Alko, products should be present on the European markets makes export of alcoholic products to Finland difficult, he informed, adding that Russian wines are not so widely represented abroad, with the Krasnodar Region being the main exporter, while the supplies geography has been expanding rapidly over the past years. That is why it is necessary to get on the list of the Finnish monopolist’s procurement plan to participate in tenders, he noted.
"Alko can include us in the procurement plan, for doing which we should convince the company that the products are competitive," Mayorov said.
The Krasnodar Region is Russia’s leader in terms of wine trade, which is home to one third of all vinelands in the country and where 48% of Russian wine and 32% of Russian sparkling wine is produced. The share of the Krasnodar Region in total Russian vinelands equals 30%. In 2019, the Krasnodar Region increased wine exports by 7% compared with 2018, particularly due to starting supplies to five more countries — the UK, Brazil, Spain, Belgium, and Canada.