Brewers fear a decline in beer quality in the EAEU due to technical regulations

Russian producers of beer and malt admitted that the entry of the current technical regulation on alcohol safety into force in the current version could lead to a decrease in the quality of beer produced in the EAEU countries, said a letter from market participants to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Mishustin.

The authors of the appeal (a copy is available to RIA Novosti) believe that the entry into force of the technical regulation in the current edition "will lead to a sharp decrease in the quality and safety of beer produced in the EAEU member countries, does not meet the economic interests of the Russian Federation and will have a negative impact on the development of Russian brewing, malting and agricultural industries. "

The collective letter was signed, in particular, by the chairman of the Council of the Union of Russian Brewers Daniil Briman, the chairman of the board of the National Union of Beer and Beverage Producers Elena Tsvetkova, the president of the Union of Participants in the Beer Trade Nikolay Zhelagin and several other representatives of associations and businesses.

According to the authors of the letter, a change in the proportion of malt in beer production will lead to a decrease in malt production by 30 percent, which will result in a decrease in the sown area of malting barley by 230 thousand hectares, as well as a decrease in employment in agriculture and agricultural processing.

"Russian beer producers using traditional brewing technologies and up to 100 percent of malt find themselves in unequal competitive conditions and are forced out of the market," the statement added. In addition, among the possible negative consequences of the changes, damage to the import substitution process in Russia, as well as a reduction in tax deductions to budgets of all levels are indicated.

The EAEU technical regulation on the safety of alcoholic beverages comes into force on January 9, 2021. According to the technical regulations, in the production of beer, partial replacement of brewing malt with grain or products of its processing may be allowed if their total mass does not exceed 50 percent of the mass of replaced malt, and the mass of sugar-containing products is not more than five percent of the mass of malt, grain and grain products.

However, the Russian law on the regulation of the production and turnover of alcohol stipulates that only up to 20 percent of brewing malt may be replaced with unmalted products.

Source: https://ria.ru/