Wine and beer producers oppose the additional excise duty

The Ukrainian associations of wine and beer producers totally oppose the introduction of 5% additional excise duty on retail turnover of the excisable goods, informed Director of the the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Ukraine Serhiy Mykhaylechko.

“Our association is totally against the introduction of the additional excise duty on the wine market sector in the amount of 5% from the sales of the alcoholic beverages,” he said.

The tax policy cannot be developed when the rates of the excise duty are sharply increasing, especially under conditions of declining market, according to Mykhaylechko.

“First, we need to stabilize the sector and then think about increasing. Otherwise, despite all statements of the government, 5% from the sales volume of wine production will reduce the domestic production, which will lead to the reduction of the excise duty funds. The domestic wine market has declined to a minimum. According to the State Statistics Service, the decline of the total volume of wine produced in Ukraine amounted to 15.9% in H1 2014. Overall, the wine sector of Ukraine has lost almost 60% of the volume of the finished products over the past four years,” noted Mykhaylechko.