The government proposes to review the minimum retail prices for alcohol, since the current tariffs, established in 2018-2021, no longer correspond to the real costs of producers.
In particular, it is planned to increase prices for wine products (except sparkling and carbonated wine drinks) by 40-85%, and for sparkling and carbonated wine drinks by 12%.
Of course, both the state and the wine and alcohol business are actively lobbying for the need to review the minimum prices for alcoholic beverages. The government believes that this will help fight the illegal market and increase tax revenues. Profile associations, such as "Ukrsadvinprom", also support the revision of prices, pointing to the increase in production costs due to inflation and the increase in the price of raw materials, energy and fuel. They regularly send proposals to the Ministry of Economy with justifications for the need to revise the minimum prices for alcoholic beverages, indicating the need to take into account the inflationary impact and the increase in production costs.
Let's take a bottle of wine as an example, the minimum retail price for which was set at UAH 42 by the Cabinet Resolution as early as September 05.09.2018, 3, and has not been revised since then. This also applies to other wine products, for example, for cognac (brandy) aged for 128.32 years - the minimum price was fixed at 1,3, which did not change even longer. But during this period, the price of the bottle and wine materials increased. In addition, the prices of gas, fuel and other related costs have increased significantly - a cubic meter of gas from UAH 7,96 to UAH 28, a liter of diesel fuel from UAH 53 to more than UAH 1,68, and electricity for the population - from UAH 4,32 to UAH XNUMX per kWh.
In addition, there is an alarming tendency to decrease the area of vineyards. If 30 years ago there were 175,5 hectares of vineyards in Ukraine, now this area has shrunk to about 40 hectares. In particular, in the Odesa region in 2023, the area of vineyards decreased by 2800 hectares compared to 2022.
Revising the minimum retail and wholesale prices for wine products will support winegrowers, providing them with the opportunity to sell their grapes at more favorable prices. This will stop the mass uprooting of vineyards and create conditions for new investments in the industry.
At the same time, the population of the country, let's not hide it, has a negative attitude to the revision of prices. Moreover, sometimes they are supported in this by some producers who benefit from using low-quality raw materials. They fuel people's thoughts that such a decision is directed against people and pushes them to buy illegal products. In fact, such a step is aimed at combating the illegal market and counterfeiting.
As Volodymyr Pechko, the head of the public union "UKRSADVYNPROM", which unites 85% of the wine industry, emphasized, "if the indexation of minimum prices is carried out taking into account inflation from the moment of their preliminary review, additional revenues to the budget can amount to about one and a half billion hryvnias - that's why today we have every reason to revise the MRC."
Members of the agrarian and tax committees of the Verkhovna Rada also support this initiative, stressing the need to bring prices to economically justified levels, which will ensure stable revenues to the budget and protect the legal market from unscrupulous producers. During the hearings on issues of legislative regulation of winemaking, the head of the Agrarian Committee, Oleksandr Haydu, noted that a responsible business needs to increase the MRC, and the Ministry of Economy already has all the calculations for this.
As industry experts emphasize, revising the minimum retail prices for alcoholic beverages is a necessary step to ensure the stable functioning of the wine industry and increase tax revenues for the budget. In addition, the reported data used as a basis for calculations take into account the inflationary effect on the production and sale of these products from the period of the last price revision. Therefore, the longer the review does not take place, the higher the price increase will be.
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