OREANDA-NEWS. July 26, 2011. Belarus’ vodka and hard liquor output increased 11.7% on the year in Jan-Jun 2011 to 7.9 million decaliters, an official with Belarus’ National Statistics Committee told reporters Tuesday.

In June Belarus’ vodka and hard liquor output totaled 1.4 million decaliters, up 30.6% from June 2010.

In the period, cognac output amounted to 112,000 decaliters, 5.9% down on the year. “Cognac” is a name used to denote a type of brandy in the former Soviet Union. Cognac output in June stood at 9,000 decaliters, down 30.8% from June 2010.

The production of sparkling wines went up 2.6% on the year in the period to 660,000 decaliters. In June the output reached 105,000 decaliters, down 16% from June 2010.

Grape wine output rose 25.9% to 1.249 million decaliters. In June the output amounted to 190,000 decaliters, up 11.8% from June 2010.

The output of fruit wines went down 2% to 8.4 million decaliters. In June the output amounted to 1.4 million decaliters, down 13.4% from June 2010.

Inventories of vodka and other liquors amounted to 1 million decaliters on July 1, 2011, 75.7% of the monthly output. Stock reserve of cognac stood at 12,000 decaliters (64.3%), grape wine – 325,000 decaliters (156.1%), fruit wine – 0.5 million decaliters (35.4%), champagne and sparkling wines – 92,000 decaliters (83.6%).

Vodka sales increased 10.5% on the year in January-June 2011 to 5.59 million decaliters. Sales of other hard drinks rose 40.3% to 1.026 million decaliters. Sales of cognac went up 44.1% on the year to 172,900 decaliters. Sales of grape wines went up 24.4% on the year to 1.579 million decaliters. Sales of champagne and sparkling wines went up 26.9% on the year to 601,600 decaliters. Sales of fruit wines increased 5.7% to 8.43 million decaliters. Sales of low-alcohol beverages went down 27% to 454,600 decaliters.

The share of vodka in the sales of alcoholic beverages in absolute alcohol terms in Belarus decreased by 0.8 percentage points from January-June 2010 to 43.8%. The share of other hard drinks rose 1.2 percentage points to 6%. The share of grape wines in alcohol sales edged up 0.4 percentage points to 4.3%.

Fruit wine sales share decreased 2 percentage points to 29.7%. The share of cognac edged up 0.3 percentage points to 1.4%, and of champagne and sparkling wines rose 0.1 percentage points to 1.3%. The share of low-alcohol beverages went down 0.3 percentage points to 0.5%.