Ukrainian winemakers seek sanctions for Georgian wines and Armenian cognac, losing out in competition

Ukrainian wine producers cannot withstand competition with European brands and demand that the government lower excise taxes and impose sanctions against producers from the Caucasus. This was stated by the CEO of the Ukrvinprom concern, Vladimir Kucherenko. "The problem is the lack of competitiveness of domestic wine products. Ukraine is moving in the direction of European integration, but for some reason the same "Made in Ukraine" program does not mention wine, although it is an important food product. In Europe, the excise tax on wine is minimal, while in Ukraine for sparkling wines it is 12.23 hryvnia (about $0.3 - TASS note), so under such fiscal conditions, competition with imported goods is simply unrealistic," he said in an interview with the Ukrinform agency. According to Kucherenko, one of the options for solving the problem is to reduce the excise tax on wine to the European level. However, as another measure, he proposed reducing competition by introducing sanctions ...