(Decanter) - Tax, import controls and licensing changes hit US wine shipments to Russia in 2012. Russian bureaucracy prevented US wines from achieving their full potential in a key emerging market last year, but producers remain confident. US wine exports may have achieved a record value in 2012, at US$1.43bn, but global exports dropped by almost 5% in volume terms. Alongside falls in Hong Kong, where the benefit of slashed duty rates is waning, Russia played a significant part in the decline. Exports to the country sank by 57% versus 2011, to 1.67m litres, despite it commonly being touted as an important emerging market for wine.