Vodka sales amounted to 11.9 million decaliters in January, accounting for 50 percent of alcoholic beverages sold in Russia, the State Statistics Service said Friday, Interfax reported.
In January 2012, the share amounted to 51.8 percent. Beer sales totaled 72 million decaliters, accounting to 28.7 percent of all alcoholic beverages. Baltika CEO Isaac Sheps said the state's crackdown on beer sales was causing damage to business and society. He said Russia was the only country where it was cheeper to drink vodka than beer.
(MT)
