"Luding" company, owned by Armenian oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, has ceded the leadership of the main international wine supplier to the Russian market. With a reference to the Federal Customs Service of Russia, RBK informs that "Luding" was the biggest wine importer starting 2008. However, it has recently ceded its position to the "Mistral Alco" - a part of the "Mistral" Group owned by Beslan Agrba, the head of the Abkhazian community in Moscow. According to the FCS data, "Luding" is almost two-fold lagging behind the new leader: in Jan-Jun 2015 the company imported 4.4 mln liters of wine to Russia, which is 62.2% less than a year before.
In the total volume of wines exported to Russia the company's share makes 6.48%, while in 2009 it made 17.93%. nevertheless, "Luding" is still the largest French wine importer
to Russia - 1.24 mln liters have been imported starting Jan 2015. By the FCS data, in the first half of 2015 the wine import to Russia has fallen by 38.5% down to 68 mln liter compared with the same period in 2014.
The main reasons lie deep in the ruble devaluation and the decrease of the Russians' real income. Only one country out of the 10 largest importers has shown increment - Abkhazia.
In the fist half of 2015 Russia imported about 7.7 mln liters of Abkhazian wines, which is % more than a year before. According to experts' opinion, the cost of European and New World wines has been increased by 25-40%, while the price for Russian and Abkhazian wines has been increased by only 15%. Armenia is not in TOP 10 of main wine exporters to Russia.