Russia
running low on Vodka, distiller warns...
MOSCOW
(Reuters) - Russians could suffer a shortage
of their national tipple next week because
a bureaucratic mix-up has brought every
vodka distillery in the country to a halt,
producers said on Friday.
Distillers
have been waiting since January 1 for tax
authorities to send them new excise stamps
-- the anti-counterfeit stickers that by
law must be attached to every bottle of
vodka.
"We
are selling vodka left over from last year
but those stocks are getting smaller all
the time," said Vera Bragina, a spokeswoman
for Russia's Smirnov Trading House.
"The
situation is pretty much under control but
if in the next week or so (we do not receive
the stamps) then there will be problems,"
she added. "There is a threat (to supplies)."
Each Russian consumes 14 liters of alcohol
a year -- most of it in the form of neat
vodka, consumed in the traditional style
by draining the glass in one gulp.
It
is illegal to produce or sell vodka without
an excise stamp that corresponds to the
year in which it was produced.
New
excise rules that came into force on January
1 led to confusion among officials about
the procedure for issuing distillers with
new stamps.
Because
of that, no new stamps left the Federal
Tax Service's warehouses until January 31
-- a month late. But by Friday some vodka
producers had still not received them.
"We ... do not have the new excise
stamps at the factory," said Bragina.
"There is talk that maybe by Monday
they will get the stamps but we have heard
that before."
There
have been no vodka shortages in shops because
producers have used their reserves to keep
them supplied.
Russian
Alcohol Group, which has about 5 percent
of the Russian spirits market, said one
of its two factories had taken delivery
of the excise stamps.
But
the other, the Topaz plant near Moscow,
had not received the stamps, said group
spokeswoman Zhanna Oleinik. "At Topaz
we have almost nothing left in terms of
spirits. On Wednesday we expect to run out.
The warehouse will be empty," she said.
Russia's state-owned vodka conglomerate
Rosspirtprom said some -- though not all
-- of the more than 100 factories under
its control had received the excise stamps.
"We
hope that by the start of next week the
situation will be back to normal,"
said spokesman Dmitry Dobrov.
Alcohol
has been a central part of Russian culture
for centuries. Legend has it that 11th century
Russian ruler Vladimir said: "Russia's
mirth is drinking. We cannot live without
it."
When former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev
introduced strict limits on vodka sales
in the 1980s to combat rampant alcoholism,
some people turned to drinking eau de cologne.
Smirnov vodka has no connection to the Smirnoff
brand owned by drinks giant Diageo.
By
Christian Lowe
Reuters
Copyright
© 2006 Reuters
|