Russia's Booming Drinks Market
Elena Kuznetsova Diageo
Of all the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China), Russia has seen the most dramatic long-term changes in alcohol consumption (See figure 1). After dipping in the 1980s, Russian alcohol consumption rose sharply during the following decade as the country experienced a period of political and economic instability. The per capita volume of litres of pure alcohol consumed by Russians more than doubled from 3.8 litres in 1990 to 8.7 litres in 2003, according to WARC's World Drink Trends report. Figure 1: Russian drink trends compared to other BRIC markets ...