The private company Nemiroff received from the State Tax Service the first license in Ukraine for the production of alcohol at Nemyriv distillery (Vinnytsia region), which it acquired in November 2020, the company said in a press release on Friday.

"Nemiroff is again at the forefront – as the first private company in the modern history of Ukraine to privatize a distillery and receive a license to produce alcohol. This is an important step not only for the brand, but for the entire industry," the press release said.

The company noted that obtaining a license for the production of alcohol completed the legal stage of privatization of state-owned Nemyriv distillery, and its acquisition by a private company was a harbinger of fundamental changes in the domestic vodka industry.

"For Nemiroff, this is a strategic decision, because now the company will be able to fully control and improve the quality of key raw materials and, accordingly, finished products. Also, this is the restoration of the historical roots of the brand, its heritage, because products in this region have been produced since the 18th century," the company said in a press release.

As reported, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine in July 2020 issued the first licenses for the production of alcohol to other state-owned factories.

Earlier, acting director of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspyrt Serhiy Bleskun said that the law on the abolition of the state monopoly on alcohol production came into force on July 1, 2020, but for another year, only state-owned enterprises remain as alcohol producers, and private companies need to use this to privatize them.

In December 2020, the Ministry of Finance delegated the issuance of licenses for wholesale trade in excisable goods to regional divisions of the State Tax Service from January 1, 2021.

Nemiroff is one of the largest alcohol producers. It has production facilities in Nemyriv (Vinnytsia region). The total design capacity of the bottling lines of the plant is 120 million liters of finished products annually.

According to Nemiroff, the company is the largest exporter of Ukrainian vodka products, accounting for more than 40% of total sales in foreign markets, and is also one of the top ten world suppliers of vodka in the Duty Free & Travel Retail segment. Nemiroff's sales cover about 80 countries.