Malt hops are not sweeter
Brewers fear shortage of raw materials
Yesterday at the Moscow brewery "Ochakovo" a meeting of a group of State Duma deputies and heads of 16 largest breweries in Russia took place. The main topic of the meeting was the draft federal law “On Beer”, which provides benefits for Russian producers of barley and hops. Brewers' concern about the fate of domestic suppliers of raw materials is explained by the upcoming increase in prices for imported barley.

The share of imported raw materials in the structure of purchases of Russian breweries is very significant. Domestic agriculture provides only 10% of the industry's demand for hops (about 9 million tons are required annually) and approximately 50% for brewing barley (total demand is 1.2-1.5 million tons). But while the situation with hops is more or less stable, prices for imported barley and its derivative, malt, have been steadily growing over the past six months. The main suppliers of malt to our market (Germany, Denmark, France) are gradually reducing the amount of subsidies for their own agricultural producers. According to Ochakov President Alexey Kochetov, next year subsidies in EU countries will be stopped altogether. And malt prices may increase from the current $310-340 to $400-420.
Brewers can compensate for rising prices by purchasing domestic raw materials. But for this, Russian barley producers must increase production volumes by at least one and a half times. Without additional funds, the village is unable to ensure growth. According to industry representatives, this problem can be solved through preferential lending and other forms of state support for raw material producers. Thus, part of the taxes on beer factories is proposed to be directed not to the budget, but to agricultural producers. According to the head of Baltika, Taimuraz Bolloev, with such a scheme, all money is guaranteed to reach the recipient. The brewers have not yet decided what taxes should be and how much will remain for the state. It is also unclear how the Duma and the government will react to the “drinking benefits”. According to one of the deputies present, the bill is too declarative in nature.
DMITRY Ъ-DOBROV

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 169 dated September 12, 2000, p. 4

Authors:

Dmitry Dobrov