Russia is considering measures to hike the price of small bottles of vodka, a Russian newspaper reported.
An official request by the alcohol market regulator that would make 0.375-liter and 0.5-liter bottles of vodka the same price has been sent to the Justice Ministry for registration, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported last week.
Producing bottles of vodka that contain slightly less than 0.5 liters is a way to avoid the government's measure of setting a minimum price for vodka (174 rubles, or $5.30, per half-liter bottle), the report says.
Sales of 0.375-liter vodka bottles increased by 8 percent in the first half of 2013, according to a recent study by market research company GFK-Rus. Russians bought 24 percent less vodka than in the same period last year, the study says.
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