Alcoholic drinks in 2024: The big picture
Total volume sales of alcoholic drinks rose in Ukraine in 2024. This represented a continuation of the recovery that commenced in the previous year, but sales remained some way below the level seen in 2021 before the outbreak of war following the Russian invasion of February 2022. The consumer base for alcoholic drinks remains significantly depleted following the migration of many people out of the country because of the war. The market has also been hit by the occupation of territories and issues with glass bottles including the destruction of Vetropak Hostomelskyy Sklozavod PrAT\Hostomel factory for glass bottles in February-March 2022 during fighting near Kyiv. This was a huge glass factory, which provided bottles for almost all manufacturers in Ukraine. More broadly, retail outlets, factories and warehouses have all been destroyed or closed during the war. In addition, there was also a temporary alcohol ban (mostly during spring 2022. The challenging economic situation has also dampened sales, with consumers being impacted by full-scale war and high rates of inflation, leading to downtrading, money saving, and the avoidance of purchasing non-essential items. Market players have been forced to re-build logistics chains and import processes, and to manage petrol and electricity issues.
2024 key trends
Beer (mostly lager) is the largest category in alcoholic drinks in Ukraine in volume terms, with the second being spirits (mostly vodka). Overall, beer is losing share of alcoholic drinks consumption, as consumers are shifting to other relatively low alcohol drinks such as RTDs, cider, and wine, which are expanding their product assortment, particularly to include popular alcohol-free and flavoured options. At the same time, spirits is gaining share, driven by both more traditional vodka (mostly local and affordable) and relatively new imported spirits like whiskies, rum, gin, and tequila. Vodka benefits from shifting from the large illicit/grey market, which has experienced difficulties in wartime (lack of glass bottles, stricter governmental control and so on.), while imported spirits are still far from market saturation on a per capita basis and growing rapidly from their low base. People are becoming more aware of imported spirits, which are seeing demand driven by the developing bar culture and mixology, as well as by heavy investments from global and local companies in visibility, brand awareness, and price promotions.
Competitive landscape
The leading companies within alcoholic drinks in Ukraine in 2024 were large beer producers, including Carlsberg, Obolon and AB InBev, which jointly account for more than half of total alcohol consumption in volume terms. Global player, Carlsberg, is the leading player and, indeed, extended its lead over second-placed Obolon in the final year of the review period despite both companies increasing their volume share. Carlsberg’s share increase was driven by the success of its core brand, Lvivske 1715, the largest brand in the Ukrainian alcoholic drinks market. Carlsberg’s strong performance was supported by a range of activities, including investments in its premium portfolio and numerous new product developments, including trending flavoured and non alcoholic beers. The company has also introduced attractively priced products in 900ml PET bottles in the large retail chain, ATB-Market. Meanwhile, Carlsberg’s nearest rival, the local player, Obolon, focused on export, while AB InBev experienced some issues with local production and could not recover its previous volumes.
Retail developments
Supermarkets was the largest distribution channel across all alcoholic drinks categories in Ukraine in 2024. There are large retailers operating in the country, such as ATB-Market, Silpo, Novus, and Varus. ATB-Market, positioned as an economy supermarket, has a network of approximately 1,250 stores. In recent years, Silpo, which is part of Fozzy Group, and Novus have successfully developed their own import activities in alcoholic drinks. Generally, the supermarkets channel benefits from its wide-reaching chains that bring outlets close to consumers’ homes, convenience, attractive price promotions and loyalty programmes. Furthermore, many people are favouring supermarkets, which are close to home and still offer a good range of products, over hypermarkets in wartime because of frequent air alarms, which lead to the closure of shopping malls and the hypermarkets inside them.
On-trade vs off-trade split
The on-trade channel has struggled to regain ground, with the impact of the pandemic having been compounded by the severe challenges of wartime conditions. There is night curfew in Ukraine during the full-scale war, so that bars and restaurants should close at around 21:00-22:00, which adversely affects sales of alcoholic drinks. A high rate of inflation has impacted spending and saving, with many avoiding unnecessary purchases and spending less in cafés and restaurants. Furthermore, the customer base has been significantly reduced by people moving abroad and many people entering the armed forces. There has also been lower mobility as frequent air attacks have led to safety issues and complications with transportation. Finally, some on-trade players have been forced to close due to the challenging conditions, weakening the on-trade supply.
What next for alcoholic drinks?
Total volume sales of alcoholic drinks are expected to see continued growth in Ukraine over the forecast period, albeit at a slower rate than in 2024. The anticipated slowdown in volume growth is explained by market saturation and the decline in the consumer base - the longer that the war lasts, the more people may plan to go abroad or enter the armed forces. Beer is expected to be relatively sluggish, as consumers will shift to other relatively low alcohol drinks categories, which are strongly expanding their supply of flavoured and non alcoholic drinks. In spirits, both (mostly local) vodka and imported spirits like whiskies, gin and tequila are set to see notable expansion. Vodka will benefit from the shift from illicit/grey consumption to the mainstream market, while imported spirits will see growth driven by initially low market penetration and increasing consumers awareness.
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Overview:
Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Alcoholic Drinks industry in Ukraine with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
Key trends are clearly and succinctly summarised alongside the most current research data available. Understand and assess competitive threats and plan corporate strategy with our qualitative analysis, insight and confident growth projections.
Data and analysis in this report provides further detailed coverage dedicated to the following key categories, where applicable:
- Beer
- Wine
- Spirits
- Cider and Perry
- RTDs
If you're in the Alcoholic Drinks industry in Ukraine, our research will help you to make informed, intelligent decisions; to recognise and profit from opportunity, or to offer resilience amidst market uncertainty
The Alcoholic Drinks in Ukraine report includes:
- Analysis of key supply-side and demand trends
- Detailed segmentation of international and local products
- Historic volume and value sizes, company and brand market shares
- Five year forecasts of market trends and market growth
- Robust and transparent research methodology, conducted in-country
This report answers:
- What is the market size of Alcoholic Drinks in Ukraine?
- Where is consumer demand for Alcoholic Drinks focussed?
- Which is being consumed more; beer, wine or spirits?
- Where is demand growing? Stagnating?
- How is the operating environment for alcoholic drinks changing?
- Which are the leading brands in Ukraine?
- How are products distributed in Ukraine?
- What are the key trends in new product development?
- Do consumers want value for money or added value?
- How will macroeconomic context and shifting cultural values shape future growth?
- How will COVID-19 and recession impact the alcoholic drinks industry?
- Where is future growth expected to be most dynamic?
Alcoholic Drinks in Ukraine
Alcoholic drinks in 2024: The big picture
2024 key trends
Competitive landscape
Retail developments
On-trade vs off-trade split
What next for alcoholic drinks?
Legislation
Legal purchasing age and legal drinking age
Drink driving
Advertising
Smoking ban
Opening hours
On-trade establishments
Contraband/parallel trade
Duty free
Cross-border/private imports
Outlook
DISCLAIMER
Beer in Ukraine
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Stable retail volume recovery
Global player, Carlsberg, strengthens leadership, while small local company, Umanpyvo, becomes more visible in the market
Supermarkets retains leadership, but convenience stores grows faster
Limited growth opportunities for beer in Ukraine
Craft beer and premiumisation in the mass market
Non alcoholic and flavoured novelties will drive beer sales
Lager price band methodology
Cider/Perry in Ukraine
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Limited recovery of cider and lack of non-alcoholic options
Carlsberg remains clear market leader
Alcoholic drinks specialists gain share in cider
Good category prospects, supported by current trends
Flavoured cider to drive category development
Exclusive flavours and playing with bottle volumes
Rtds in Ukraine
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Incomplete recovery after strong sales drop in 2022
Novi Produkty Group retains clear leadership
E-commerce develops in RTDs
Good opportunities for RTDs in Ukraine
Wine-based RTDs offer bright future prospects
Ready-to-serve premium innovations from Diageo
Spirits in Ukraine
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Spirits shows best sales performance among alcoholic drinks
Natsionalna Gorilchana Kompaniya extends lead
Forecourt retailers rapidly develop in Spirits’ sales
Imported spirits to perform well, but local vodka and brandy to dominate volumes
Craft distilleries expected to develop
Flavoured and non-alcoholic options to dominate innovation activity
Vodka, gin, other blended Scotch whisky, dark rum and white rum price band methodology
Wine in Ukraine
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Overall weak wine recovery, driven by affordable non-grape wine
Carlsberg enters Nnon-grape wine with apple/cider-based Dolcelini
E-commerce is the most dynamic channel in wine
Mass-market wine will become less affordable
Demand for flavoured alcoholic drinks will extend into wine
Carton-packed novelties to drive economy segment of still wine
The following categories and subcategories are included:
Alcoholic Drinks
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- Ale
- Sorghum
- Weissbier/Weizen/Wheat Beer
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- Flavoured/Mixed Lager
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- Domestic Premium Lager
- Imported Premium Lager
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- Domestic Mid-Priced Lager
- Imported Mid-Priced Lager
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- Domestic Economy Lager
- Imported Economy Lager
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- Domestic Premium Lager
- Domestic Mid-Priced Lager
- Domestic Economy Lager
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- Imported Premium Lager
- Imported Mid-Priced Lager
- Imported Economy Lager
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- Low Alcohol Beer
- Non Alcoholic Beer
- Stout
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- Regular Cider/Perry
- Non Alcoholic Cider/Perry
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- Malt-based RTDs
- Spirit-based RTDs
- Wine-based RTDs
- Other RTDs
- Non Alcoholic RTDs
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- Brandy
- Cognac
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- Bitters
- Cream-based Liqueurs
- Other Liqueurs
- Non Alcoholic Spirits
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- Prestige Dark Rum
- Ultra Premium Dark Rum
- Super Premium Dark Rum
- Premium Dark Rum
- Standard Dark Rum
- Economy Dark Rum
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- Prestige White Rum
- Ultra Premium White Rum
- Super Premium White Rum
- Premium White Rum
- Standard White Rum
- Economy White Rum
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- Tequila (and Mezcal)
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- Bourbon/Other US Whiskey
- Canadian Whisky
- Irish Whiskey
- Japanese Whisky
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- Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
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- Prestige Other Blended Scotch Whisky
- Ultra Premium Other Blended Scotch Whisky
- Super Premium Other Blended Scotch Whisky
- Premium Other Blended Scotch Whisky
- Standard Other Blended Scotch Whisky
- Economy Other Blended Scotch Whisky
- Single Grain Scotch Whisky
- Single Malt Scotch Whisky
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- Other Whiskies
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- Prestige English Gin
- Ultra Premium English Gin
- Super Premium English Gin
- Premium English Gin
- Standard English Gin
- Economy English Gin
- Dutch Gin
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- Prestige Vodka
- Ultra Premium Vodka
- Super Premium Vodka
- Premium Vodka
- Standard Vodka
- Economy Vodka
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- Absinthe
- Ad-Mix Brandy
- Ad-Mix Gin
- Ad-Mix Rum
- Ad-Mix Vodka
- Ad-Mix Whisky
- Aguardente/Aguardiente
- Aguardiente De Caña
- Akvavit/Aquavit
- Aniseed-Flavoured Spirits
- Borovicka
- Boukha
- Brandy Type Distilled Spirits
- Cachaça
- Calvados
- Cane
- Chacha
- Charanda
- Chinese Herbal Spirits
- Chinese Spirits
- Cut Brandy
- Destilados De Agave
- Distilled Fruit Spirits
- Domestic Brandy
- Domestic Rum
- Doppelkorn
- Economy Chinese Spirits
- Flavoured Spirits
- Flavoured Vodka-based Drinks
- Fynbos gin/Local Gin
- Gin-flavoured spirits
- Goldbrand/Goldkrone
- Grappa
- Grappamiel
- Guaro
- Kirsch
- Komovica
- Korn
- Lambanog
- Limoncello
- Local White Spirits
- Lower Mid-Range Chinese Spirits
- Lozovaca
- Maesilju
- Mahia Rabi Amrane
- Mead
- Mixed Spirits
- Nalivka/Nalewka
- Nastoyka
- National Specialities
- Obstbrände
- Ouzo
- Pacharán
- Palinca/Pálinka
- Pear and Apple Distillates
- Pisco
- Premium Chinese Spirits
- Prune
- Punsch
- Rachiu/Rakija
- Rum-Flavoured Spirits
- Samane
- Sambuca
- Samsu
- Schnapps
- Shochu/Soju
- Singani
- Sljivovica/Slivovice
- Steinhäeger
- Strong African Spirits
- Super Premium Chinese Spirits
- Sura Khao
- Tequila Flavoured Spirits
- Travarica
- Tsipouro
- Upper Mid-Range Chinese Spirits
- Vieux
- Viina
- Vodka Type Distilled Spirits
- Other Distilled Beverages
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- Port
- Sherry
- Vermouth
- Other Fortified Wine
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- Apple Wine
- Bokbunjaju
- Cheongju
- Chinese Wine
- Economy Rice Wine
- Fortified Fruit Wine
- Fruit and Berry Wine
- Fruit and Herbal Wine
- Fruit and Honey based Wine
- Fruit Wine
- Lower Mid-Range Rice Wine
- Non-Grape Dessert Wine
- Premium Rice Wine
- Sake
- Takju
- Upper Mid-Range Rice Wine
- Yakju
- Yellow Wine
- Other Non-Grape Wine
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- Champagne
- Other Sparkling Wine
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- Still Red Wine
- Still Rosé Wine
- Still White Wine
- Non Alcoholic Wine
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Alcoholic Drinks
Alcoholic drinks is the aggregation of beer, wine, spirits, cider/perry and RTDs.
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This report originates from Passport, our Alcoholic Drinks research and analysis database.
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