Exports from Georgia fell by 14.7%, while imports fell by 17.5%. only trade with China is in the black.

Trade in Georgia against the background of the pandemic continues to fall - foreign trade turnover since the beginning of 2020 decreased by 16.7% compared to January-August last year and amounted to more than seven billion dollars (excluding unorganized trade), according to the website of the National service.

Imports in January-August 2020 amounted to about $ 5 billion, which is 17.5% less compared to the same period in 2019.
The negative trade balance of Georgia from January to July amounted to about $ 2.9 billion, which is 41% of the total foreign trade turnover.

What sells of Georgia

A wide range of goods are exported from Georgia – copper ores and concentrates, ferroalloys, natural grape wines, mineral waters, medicines, cars, gold, forest and other nuts, etc.

Exports since the beginning of 2020 have grown only for copper ores and concentrates (7.5%), spirits (10.9%) and gold (30.7%).

At the same time, in January-August 2020, exports of passenger cars fell by 37.2%, ferroalloys – by 29.8%, natural grape wines – by 8.6%, medicines – by 53.3%, mineral and fresh water – by 21.1%, nitrogen fertilizers – by 10.2%, and so on.

Oil and petroleum products, passenger cars, petroleum gas and hydrocarbon gas, copper ores and concentrates, medicines, wheat, electricity, telephones for cellular or other communication, and so on are imported to Georgia.

Since the beginning of 2020, only imports of wheat increased by 13.5%, meat and poultry offal-by 3.9%.

At the same time, imports of passenger cars fell by 32.4%, copper ores and concentrates – by 16.9%, oil and petroleum products – by 31.4%, medicines - by 12.6%, petroleum gases and gaseous hydrocarbons - by 11.5%, and so on.

Who does Georgia trade with

The largest trading partners of Georgia since the beginning of 2020 are Turkey, Russia and China. In General, the turnover with these countries in January-August amounted to more than $ 2.5 billion, which is 36% of the total trade turnover.

Turkey is in the first place - the foreign trade turnover with the neighboring country since the beginning of 2020 amounted to about 970.4 million dollars, which is 13.8% of the total trade turnover of Georgia. The trade turnover between the two countries decreased by 15.1% compared to January-August last year.

Russia in second place

Since the beginning of 2020, the turnover between Georgia and Russia has decreased by 9.3% compared to January-August 2019 and amounted to more than $ 820.6 million – 11.7% of the total foreign trade turnover of Georgia.

Since the beginning of the year, about 68.2 thousand tons of ferroalloys, about 24 thousand tons of natural grape wine, about 47.6 thousand tons of mineral and fresh water, more than four thousand tons of alcoholic beverages and so on have been exported from Georgia to the Russian Federation.

Russia remains the largest supplier of fuel to Georgia. Since the beginning of the year, oil and oil products with a total weight of more than 239.7 thousand tons have been imported from Russia.

About 314.6 thousand tons of wheat, more than 82 thousand tons of oil gases, about 24.5 thousand tons of sunflower oil and so on were also imported from Russia.

China is in third place

Georgia's foreign trade turnover with China amounted to about $ 737.5 million, which is 10.5% of the total trade turnover. The trade turnover between the two countries increased by 10% compared to the same period last year.

Since the beginning of the year, China has exported more than 164.4 thousand tons of copper ores and concentrates, about 9.7 thousand tons of precious metal ores, about 2.3 thousand tons of natural grape wines, and so on.

Who else does Georgia trade with

The top ten trading partners of Georgia also include: Azerbaijan – more than 593.8 million dollars, Armenia-more than 385.6 million dollars, the United States-more than 385.6 million dollars, Ukraine-about 358.6 million dollars, Bulgaria-more than 284.6 million dollars, Germany-more than 268.4 million dollars, Italy-more than 136.6 million dollars.

The rate of decline in foreign trade

In August of this year, Georgia's foreign trade turnover fell by 15.9%, including exports - by 7.5%, and imports-by 19.3%. The rate of decline began to decline in June - Georgia's foreign trade turnover fell by 16%, including exports - by 13.1%, and imports-by 17.2%. While in may this year, Georgia's foreign trade turnover fell by 33.2%, including exports - by 30.6%, and imports-by 34.3%. The coronavirus outbreak has dealt a serious blow to the country's entire economy. Losses are incurred by hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, recreation and entertainment, transport. The financial, construction, real estate, manufacturing, and education sectors are also under threat.

Sputnik-georgia.ru