Expert Drobiz: “In order to switch all consumers to legal alcohol, salaries must be doubled”
Online sales of alcohol in Russia soared by 60% — up to 80 billion rubles. This was reported by the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT). At the same time, selling alcohol on the Internet is prohibited by law in our country. From this conflict we can conclude that the authorities are not yet able to overcome the rapidly growing trend in the world for online sales of everything. But they also do not want to legalize this method of selling goods. Why has the government not yet developed an effective mechanism for regulating alcohol sales on the Internet and what is required for this? Vadim Drobiz, head of the center for research of the federal and regional alcohol markets TSIFRRA, told MK about this.
— Two organizations in Russia oppose the legalization of alcohol trade through the Internet: the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They argue that this will increase the overall alcoholism of the population. But if people buy from the illegal sector today, then if online sales are allowed, tomorrow they will buy from the legal sector. What then is the reason for the increase in consumption or alcoholism? I don't understand. Opponents of the initiative also insist that legalizing online sales will make alcohol available to minors. But just the other day, in one of the regions, an eleven-year-old girl was caught on the street while drunk. It turns out that there is no connection here: sales on the Internet are prohibited, but the child still got drunk. One of the versions of the bill proposes different types of checks and identification of buyers. Up to passports and biometrics.
— Look how rapidly online commerce is developing in Russia. This is the most advanced trading system in the world. There are two or three countries left in Europe that do not sell alcohol online, one of them is Russia.
— About seven years ago, the prosecutor's office received direct instructions to overcome this negative phenomenon ahead of schedule. It took 8-9 months for such sites to be found. Several thousand sites were closed. The problem is that just as many, if not more, have reopened. And since it is difficult to overcome the system, it must be legalized, and then calmly regulated, like all other sales channels.
— There are calculations that due to the illegal trade in alcohol, the Russian budget will lose 253 billion rubles. lost income for 2023-2027. Is it a lot or a little? In my opinion, in the last couple of years the market for illegal alcohol in Russia has declined somewhat. It is impossible to estimate it accurately. But the source of the illegal alcohol market is not the insufficient efforts of the state, but the low standard of living of a significant part of the population. A person who earns 25 thousand rubles a month will never go to the store for legal vodka at 300 rubles per bottle. He will look for something “leftist”, but cheaper. He still needs to feed his family with his small salary.
— Many years ago I came up with a certain ratio. For example, in Europe the minimum wage is about 200 bottles of vodka. In Russia, the minimum wage should be at least 100–120, and preferably 130 bottles of legal vodka at the minimum price. If today this bottle costs 300 rubles, it means that in order to reduce the illegal alcohol market in Russia, the minimum wage in the country should be no lower than 35-36 thousand rubles. If you take away vodka at 120-140 rubles per bottle from a person with a salary of 20 thousand rubles a month, he will not go to the store for legal vodka at 300 rubles. He will look for another surrogate — either on the counter or on the Internet. In order to switch all consumers to legal alcohol, salaries must be doubled. Then all multi-billion dollar budget losses will disappear. All income will become legal.