The Council for the development of the brewing industry has started its work in Russia

The council for the development of the brewing industry has started its work in Russia, designed to unite large and small players in this market. Brewers expect that the creation of a new institution will lead to a real "beer renaissance" in the Russian Federation.

There are about 2.5 thousand foam drink manufacturers in Russia today. The news about the creation of the Beer and non-alcoholic Products Council, which will unite everyone in the industry, was received with enthusiasm. For many years, Russia's breweries were owned by Western owners who used exclusively foreign raw materials.

In particular, a difficult situation has developed with the main brewing raw materials — hops. According to Vyacheslav Mamontov, executive director of the Association of Beer, Malt and Beverage Producers, only 5% of the required amount of this resource is produced in Russia — the market is actually filled with imported products.

"This area requires the development of a special agricultural support system, a hop—growing development strategy, which should be of interest to the state, farmers themselves and the brewing industry," he said.

But the work on the revival is already underway. Malt production has been increased several times in just a couple of years. For example, the brewery in Novosibirsk uses exclusively domestic raw materials.

"I personally prefer to use Russian malt varieties for the simple reason that I believe in our malt growing and our agro-industrial complex. Now Russian manufacturers have been making the right steps in this direction since about 2020. I am very happy for them and I believe in them," said Alexander Yefimov, a brewer.

The new body was headed by a true industry professional, Taimuraz Bolloev, President of Baltika. As the director of one of the craft breweries, Elena Tyurina, noted, it was he who at one time played a crucial role in shaping the beer industry in modern Russia.

With the creation of the expert advisory council on beer and non-alcoholic products, the entire market has new prospects related to the revival of the best domestic traditions and development without regard to Western owners.

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The creation of the council for the development of the brewing industry became known a day earlier. In addition to Bolloev, Nikolay Tyurnikov, CEO of AB Inbev Efes, and Dmitry Kiselyov, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia, joined the group. In the near future, the new body intends to develop a common approach to addressing emerging challenges, as well as form proposals to change the current regulation of the beer and alcohol industry.

On the same day, Bolloev noted that there is currently no balanced government policy in the brewing industry. According to him, brewing has not been the focus of attention for many years, and now the industry simply needs to unite and coordinate.