Germany remains top beer seller in Russia

The EU nation boosted exports of the alcoholic drink to Russia by 32% in 2023

Germany has retained its position as the largest exporter of beer to Russia over the past two years, RIA Novosti reported earlier this week, citing international trade statistics covering 2022-2023.

Beer export data for the first ten months of each year show that Germany accounted for about a third of the Russian market. In 2023, German beer sales saw a year-on-year increase of 32% to $96 million, despite Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.

It was followed by Lithuania and Latvia, each of which accounted for more than 15% of Russian imports of the beverage. In 2023, the former nearly doubled beer sales to Russia to $36.5 million, while the latter saw a fourfold surge to $34.4 million.

Due to the significant increase in exports by the Baltic states, Belgium and the Czech Republic were pushed out of the top three in the ranking of top suppliers of beer to Russia. However, exports from both nations saw a modest year-on-year increase of 11%.

In monetary terms, exports of Belgian beer to Russia amounted to $26.6 million, while Czech sales totaled $26.4 million.

Poland, the sixth largest exporter of the beverage to Russia, doubled its supplies to $5.3 million last year. Finland also doubled its exports, to almost $2 million.

READ MORE: Red wine losing appeal in Russia

Last week, RIA Novosti news agency reported that Latvia had emerged as Russia’s largest supplier of sparkling wine during the first nine months of 2023. The Baltic nation exported $105.4 million worth of bubbly to Russia, 25% more than during the same period of 2022.

Italy, the world’s largest wine producer for the past nine years, was second, at $55.4 million (up 27.6%). Another Baltic state, Lithuania, rounded out the top three at $42.7 million, nearly doubling last year’s amount ($23 million).

Find more stories on economy and finance in TROIB business