OREANDA-NEWS  Kaluga distillery (KLVZ) "Crystal" (brands of vodka Bionica, "Charochka" and manufactured under contract "Horta") began to produce Korean alcoholic beverage soju. Kommersant writes about this with reference to representatives of the company.

Traditional alcohol, considered a Korean landmark and similar to vodka, is made mainly from sweet potatoes or grain. In Russia, a drink under the Stun brand with a strength of 13 degrees will be produced with five fruit flavors. The expected price in retail stores will be about 200 rubles per 0.375 liter bottle. According to Pavel Pobedkin, the owner of the Kaluga enterprise, the recipe for Russian soju was created and adapted for the local market by technologists from South Korea.

After the launch of production, the company expects to reach sales of 50 thousand decaliters per month this year, and next year — to start exporting to China and Korea. At the same time, Kristall estimates the sales volume of soju from Korea in Russia at about 60 thousand decaliters per year. The most popular brand in the world in this category is Jinro, its sales in the world last year amounted to about 90 million decaliters. According to Kommersant, in the online store "Crossroads" the cost of a bottle of 0.36 liters of Jinro with a strength of 13 percent is 499 rubles with a discount of 16 percent.

Director for the development of the main portfolio of Alcoholic Siberian Group (ASG, vodka "White birch", "Five lakes", "Husky", tinctures "Sibbitter") Natalia Nevorotova said that the company is also developing a recipe for soju with three different flavors, the start of sales is scheduled for the end of this year. According to ASG forecasts, the demand for this drink in Russia will grow against the background of growing interest in Asian culture.