MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. Sales of alcoholic beverages in Russia, excluding beer, beverages made on the basis of beer, cider, perry and mead, gained 4.1% year on year in 2023 and amounted to 229.5 mln decaliters, the Russian Federal Service for Alcohol and Tobacco Market Regulation said.

Retail sales of brandy plunged by 9.4% annually to 13.9 mln decaliters in 2023. Vodka sales lost 0.8% to 75.6 mln decaliters in the reporting year.

During the reporting period, sales of alcoholic beverages with a strength of more than 9% increased by 2.8% to 116.3 mln decaliters. Sales of alcoholic beverages with a strength above 25% gained 20.8% to 13.98 mln decaliters, while sales of alcoholic beverages with a strength of up to 25% plunged by 88% to 199,900 decaliters.

According to the regulator, retail sales of low-alcohol goods moved up by 14.5% in 2023 to 18.4 mln decaliters. Sales of grape wines edged up by 5.8% to 56.5 mln decaliters, and sales of sparkling wines increased by 8.3% to 21.7 mln decaliters. Liqueur wine sales increased by 58.8% year on year to 1.2 mln decaliters.

Fruit alcoholic drinks had the rise of 25.6% in sales to 12.7 mln decaliters. Sales of grape-containing drinks without ethyl alcohol fell 82.6% year on year to 889,600 decaliters, while sales of grape-containing drinks with ethyl alcohol moved up by 25.1% to 1.9 mln decaliters.