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Sambuca crystallizes in Russia
Inspired by the success of Russian whiskey and rum, spirits producers are looking for new niches. Kaluga distillery Crystal has started bottling sambuca, which it had not produced before. Although consumption of this liqueur is currently limited, the company believes that it will be able to take a leading position in the market due to low competition. The market warns that it will not be easy to compete with cheaper Belarusian sambuca.
The company told Kommersant that the Crystal liquor and vodka plant (part of the Crystal alcohol group) has begun producing the traditional Italian anise liqueur Sambuca under the Sambuca Ernaldi brand for the Krasnoe i Beloe alcohol market. The drink has been available in retail stores since October. Sambuca is a seasonal product, the sales of which in the fourth quarter increase by an average of 2-2.5 times per year due to the Lunar New Year holiday. Production data is not disclosed. Krasnoe & Beloe did not respond to Kommersant.
KLVZ Kristall was created on the basis of a historical enterprise and relaunched in 2018. The main owner is Pavel Pobedkin. In the first quarter of 2024, KLVZ produced 427 thousand decaliters of vodka, which is 23% more than in the same period last year, according to market participants cited by Kommersant. The portfolio includes brands such as Bionika and Charochka. Last year, the company released the Alter Heiler and Konig Heiler liqueurs to replace Jägermeister, which is scheduled for release in 2022. The German company Mast-Jagermeister SE filed a lawsuit to protect its exclusivity, and in the spring of 2024, the parties signed a settlement agreement, according to which KLVZ agreed to change the label of the drink.
According to NielsenIQ, sales of natural alcohol, including sambuca, in Russia from January to July 2024 increased by 5.4% compared to the previous year. The fastest-growing category of alcoholic beverages during this period was rum: sales increased by 21.8% compared to the same period last year. For comparison, in the first seven months of this year, sales of whiskey increased by 20.9%, and liqueurs by 16.8%. At the same time, sales of vermouth (5.6%), ready-made alcoholic cocktails (0.7%) and vodka (0.4%) decreased.
Sambuca production is a narrow niche, so competition is minimal, explains Mr. Pobedkin. KLVZ believes that from January to August, sales of liqueurs in Russia amounted to 33,000 items, about 30% of which were the Russian brand Sambuca Motichelli. The company believes that this will allow it to take a leading position in its segment. In total, sales of alcoholic beverages (excluding beer, cider, perry and mead) from January to August reached 149.6 million stickers, which is 2.4% more than a year earlier, according to Rosalkogoltobakkontrol.
Elena Slobodanyuk, Marketing Director of Tatspirtprom (producer of Bugulma Premium Edition and Tundra Bitter liqueurs), notes the steady growth of liquor products in general. According to her, sales of the company's products in the first half of 2024 increased by 13% compared to the same period last year. Mr. Slobodanyuk added that Sambuca has its own consumers, but Tatspirtprom is now betting on whiskey and rum, the sales of which are growing much more dynamically.
At Ladoga (the Lamonica Sambuca brand), they say that in Russia, sambuca’s popularity peaked in the late 2000s and “there is no particular interest now.”
Pavel Shapkin, head of the National Center for Alcohol Policy Development, believes that sales largely depend on price. He explains that there is already cheap Belarusian sambuca on the Russian market, the average price of which is 300 rubles. For bottles, it is difficult to compete with. According to experts, this liqueur is more of a bar drink that is rarely bought at home. Market participants interviewed by Kommersant believe that interest in sambuca may arise in regions where this drink was previously underrepresented.