Russian products imported to Greece and the big question mark for vodka

By Matina Harkoftaki

Since the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, several companies around the world have taken concrete steps to sever ties with Russia in protest. The measures are aimed at isolating the country and condemning its actions in addition to the financial sanctions imposed by governments. One such example is Enotria & Coe, one of the largest suppliers of premium wines and spirits in the UK, which has announced that it will no longer actively supply Russian products and plans to donate all profits from the sale of existing stocks to support its victims. of war. Among the Russian vodka brands announced by the company that will be stopped are Stolichnaya, which is produced in Latvia and belongs to the Russian billionaire Yuri Shefler, and Russian Standard, which belongs to the Russian oligarch and owner of the Russian Standard Bank Roustam. Tariko. Similar moves have been made by other companies as well as supermarket chains, which “download” Russian products from their shelves.

In Greece, so far, companies distributing Russian vodka brands have remained silent while time remains to be seen if Greek consumers want to turn their backs on Russian vodka. In a communication that capital.gr had with the Association of Alcoholic Beverage Companies, which represents the largest companies in the industry, which import and distribute 80% of international brands, the comment from the union was limited to the fact that it is still early to There should be a first assessment of whether the consumption of Russian vodka in our country will be affected. In addition, the association clarified that it has no official data on the overall course of this category in the Greek market.

Greece’s imports from Russia

And maybe the performance of Russian vodka in the Greek market is a puzzle for strong solvers, the picture of Russian products imported to our country from Russia is clearer. Specifically, Russian imports in 2020 reached a value of 2.9 billion euros while in the first nine months of 2021 amounted to 2.7 billion euros, recording an increase of 26.6%. Specifically, the lion’s share in terms of products imported by our country is occupied by oil and natural gas. Specifically, for the first half of 2021, the largest contribution to the value of imports had the oils from oil or bituminous minerals (680,984,111 euros and a participation rate of 41.9%), crude oils from oils or bituminous minerals (339,950). 129 euros (20.9%), petroleum gases / hydrocarbons (296,452,632 euros and 18.2%), crude aluminum (119,453,343 euros and 7.3%) and copper and its alloys (66,349,821 and 4.1%). In terms of food category, during the same period Greece imported 82,644,590 kg of wheat and semolina, which translate into a value of 20,063,014 euros and 85,072,763 kg of corn, which reached a value of 19,790 .414 euros. The largest increase in terms of value of imports was recorded by products such as coke (+ 13,865%), steel ropes (+ 11,660.3%), corn (+ 1,748%), sulfur (+ 1,007.7%), ethylene polymers (+ 379.8%) and anhydrous ammonia (+ 217.2%). In addition, the presence of its mineral or chemical fertilizers and lead in crude form, products that had not been imported in the first half of 2020, was significant. %), propylene polymers (-37.1%) and kraft paper / cardboard.