Share Of Illegal Sugary Drinks, Juice In Russia Tops 12% - Study

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th March, 2023) The share of illegal sales of juices and sugary drinks in Russia has exceeded 12% following a significant increase in the number of counterfeit and fake products on the market in 2022, the chief of Russia's Higher school of Economics (HSE) center for economic expert analysis, Marcel Salikhov, said on Wednesday.

"According to HSE studies, the share of fake and counterfeit goods in the market of juices and sugary drinks has increased by a fifth over the last year and now amounts to more than 12%. The reasons for this are the withdrawal of large transnational companies from the market and the development of parallel imports," Salikhov said in a publication seen by Sputnik.

This share will continue to grow at an accelerated rate after the introduction of the excise tax on sugary drinks, Salikhov added.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Trade Ministry proposed an experiment with the labeling of soft drinks from May 15, 2023 to February 1, 2024.

This will bring businesses more than 13 billion rubles ($169 million) a year by reducing the illegal trade in the drinks, while the Russian budget will receive an additional 6.8 billion rubles a year, HSE said.

"Thanks to labeling, sales of illegal products will be reduced by at least 70%, which will increase the net profit of soft drink producers by 8.6 billion rubles a year, juice producers � by 4.5 billion rubles. Budget revenues may increase by 4.3 billion rubles a year for the soft drinks market and 2.5 billion rubles for the juice market," Salikhov said.

Commenting on the ministry's proposal, Russia's center for the development of advanced technologies told Sputnik that the labeling experiment will be voluntary and will not affect prices in any way.

In November 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law introducing an excise tax on sugar-containing beverages of 7 rubles per liter ($0.09 per 34 ounces) starting July 1, 2023.