Russia tightens control over ‘quality and safety’ of Georgian alcohol drinks

The Russian market supervisory body Rospotrebnadzor is tightening control of alcoholic drinks imported from Georgia.

In a special statement released today the body claims that some products ‘do not meet the criteria’.

"In the first half of 2018 there was a case when an imported good did meet the obligatory demands required according to the consumer rights technical reglament under the Russian legislation”, Rospotrebnadzor said adding that the batch in question accounted for 16 thousand liters and were not allowed to enter the Russian territory. 

The supervising body accuses Georgian producers and governmental bodies of shortcomings in production technology and warns about tighter control measures.

"From January 1 all export wines have been obliged to undergo degustation procedures and this was made to ensure high quality export,” the Georgian Wine Agency said adding that quality control is a constant process which means that the body permanently works with producers and other government bodies to ensure that each bottle of Georgian wine is compatible with standards and requirements.

Russia introduced an embargo on Georgian wine and alcoholic drinks in 2006 because of ‘low equality’ damaging many exporters which largely relied on the Russian market. The embargo was lifted in June 2013.

Currently Russia still represents one of the largest export markets for Georgian producers despite they have started diversifying markets considering the embargo experience.

In the first half of 2018 Georgia exported 38.2 mln bottles of wine to 48 countries, 21 percent up from the same period last year. 24,022,113 bottles of total export were sent to Russian market, up 24 percent y/y.