Alcohol sales fall in Russia

[Kshasty]

Source: RIA Novosti

Sales of alcohol fell by 15% in Russia in the first nine months of 2009 compared to the same period last year.

Sales of spirits fell by 15-16%, while sales of other alcoholic drinks fell by 14.5%, Vadim Drobiz from the federal centre for the study of the alcohol market told journalists.

A report released earlier this year said the average Russian drinks 17 liters of spirits a year, with some 2 billion liters of alcohol being consumed in Russia annually. Alcohol is also involved in some 80% of murders and 40% of suicides in the country.

Read more: http://en.rian.ru/business/20091203/157077968.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Blandocyte]

2. Now, don't be Putin them down

I bet they're fun to party with.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. In Soviet Russia, pun groans at YOU!

:rofl:

(On a less pleasant note, the post you replied to stinks to high heaven.)

[raccoon]

3. If it's real expensive, wonder if they're brewing their own? nt

[paparush]

4. I was in Moscow in 2000. Went into a grocery store...

Lets say there were 10 aisles total. 7 of them were devoted to booze of various kinds. One tiny little bin of bread. A vegetable section the size of your kitchen sink, and a dairy section not much bigger. But holy crap, there was enough alcohol in that store stay lit for generations.

[sofa king]

5. I smell a bootleg operation.

Perhaps my faith in humanity is low, but I can't believe that a population that's literally fueled by strong drink can just walk away from it.

But they can, and would, flock to a bootlegger selling booze for fifteen percent less than the official going rate.

[IsItJustMe]

6. Or maybe the price has become to prohibitive. Something going on.

[sofa king]

11. Taxes usually expand with the price, so....

...Evading those taxes becomes more profitable when booze gets more expensive.

Having nine months of winter to sit around the house with nothing to do but think about how to get more booze is likely to produce a dazzling array of alternatives to paying full price at the store.

[KamaAina]

13. Or maybe they're getting flooded with cheap Afghan heroin.

I just read where Russia now has something like eight times as many heroin addicts per capita as the EU countries. Junkies are generally a poor market for booze.

[Igel]

8. In Soviet and immediately post-Soviet times they'd track

alcohol consumption and sugar consumption in tandem. Taken together they were fairly consistent, within certain boundaries--decrease alcohol, increase sugar, and vice-versa.

When sugar and booze both became scarce, they needed to pitch in cologne as a third factor to track. If you can't buy booze and make your own then you drink cologne. Not as consistent, though, since a lot of people wouldn't take that third step.

[dhpgetsit]

7. Russians quit drinking vodka - Potato farmers around the world go broke!

[ensho]

9. Russia has a terrible alcohol problem that is/was dragging the country

down. this decrease, though small is a good step.

I'm wishing them well.

[Blue Hen Buckeye]

12. Alcohol abuse

Alcohol abuse - Throwing away perfectly good alcohol without finishing it. Party on. I think the Czech republic is number one in per capita consumption of beer.