SOVIET SUGAR CONSUMPTION UP AS HOME BREWING GROWS
A sharp rise in Soviet sugar consumption
since the start of the Kremlin's anti-alcohol drive indicates
home brewing is costing the state 20 billion roubles in lost
vodka sales, Pravda said.
    The Communist Party newspaper said sugar sales had
increased by one mln tonnes a year, enough to be turned into
two billion bottles of moonshine.
    At current vodka prices of 10 roubles a bottle, it said,
this meant illicit alcohol consumption had reached the
equivalent of 20 billion roubles a year, or annual revenues
from vodka sales before the May 1985 anti-alchohol decree.
    "Official statistics show a reduction in consumption of
vodka, but this is a deceptive statistic -- it does not count
home-brew," Pravda said.
    "The epidemic first engulfed the villages and has now also
firmly settled into cities, where the availability of natural
gas, running water and privacy has made it much easier."
    Kremlin leader Mikhail Gorbachev launched the anti-alcohol
campaign shortly after taking office in March 1985 as a first
step to improving Soviet economic performance, which had been
seriously hurt by drunkenness among the working population.
 REUTER
