Sugar rationing (1987)
설탕 배급제 (1987)
A system introduced across the Soviet Union in 1987 under which sugar could be purchased only with coupons (талоны). As the 1985 anti-alcohol campaign slashed state alcohol sales, household samogon (moonshine) production surged nationwide; the key ingredient, sugar, saw retail demand jump 18% from 7.85 million tons in 1985 to 9.28 million tons in 1987. Goskomstat estimated that roughly 1.4 million tons of that increase went into moonshine, and Soviet authorities were forced to introduce per-capita coupon rationing in nearly every city.
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- Wikipedia (RU) confirms sugar sales rose 18% from 7,850 to 9,280 thousand tons (1985–1987), with 1.4 million tons estimated diverted to samogon; coupon rationing became near-universal
- vestarchive.ru reproduces Premier Ryzhkov's September 1988 Politburo memo: sugar sales reached 9,280 thousand tons in 1987, up 18% from 1985, and 'at present sugar is sold almost everywhere by coupons'; 1.4 million tons went to samogon per Goskomstat