site.btaRussian Market Is Shrinking for Bulgarian Wines, Bulgaria Exports to China, US to Compensate

Russian Market Is Shrinking for Bulgarian Wines, Bulgaria Exports to China, US to Compensate


Plovdiv, South Central Bulgaria, March 4 (BTA) - The Russian
market is seriously shrinking for trade with Bulgarian wines:
until 2014 Bulgaria sold 40 to 50 per cent of its export wine to
 the Russian Federation but now the situation is aggravated,
said Vine and Wine Executive Agency Director Krassimir Koev here
 on Wednesday. He was speaking at the opening of  the VINARIA
International Exhibition of Vine Growing and Wine Producing at
International Fair Plovdiv.

Last year, Bulgaria exported 58 million litres of wine. The
country is experiencing huge difficulties with the export of
wine due to the sanctions imposed on Russia, Koev said.  "It is
impossible for us to transport the wine through Ukraine and we
use the Baltic countries instead. This, however, leads to
significant appreciation [of the wine]. Very often the Russian
wine traders do not place any orders. The market has shrunk due
to the drop in the Russian rouble," Koev said. However, the wine
 export to the Chinese market has increased, he added. In 2014,
Bulgaria exported over 5 million litres of wine to China and
over 1 million litres to the US.

Last year saw the worst crop for vine and wine growers in the
last 30 years, Koev said. A total of 109,000 tonnes of grapes
were produced in 2014 compared to 250,000 tonnes in 2013, and
wine production shrunk to 76.2 million litres last year from
172.5 million litres in 2013. The number of wine companies in
Bulgaria is increasing and in 2014 they won over 150
international prizes for their production, Koev noted.

In his words, the trend of Bulgarian wines having a bad image as
 poor quality wines has already faded. "One cannot say that we
sell cheaply because countries such as Chile, Argentina, the
Republic of South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Italy and
Spain sell quality broached wine for 0.30 euro, while our
exported wines cost between 0.75 and 1.20 euro," Koev said.