Russia remains Georgia's top export partner in January-June

Russian Federation was Georgia’s top export partner in January-June 2019. The information was released by Georgia’s National Statistics Office (Geostat) in its preliminary report about the external merchandise trade in 2019.

The data reads that the share of exports to Russia amounted to 14.7% of total exports in January-June this year with $261.3 million. Compared to last year, with $204.4 million income and 12.8% of share in the total amount of exports, in 2019, Georgia exported more products to the neighboring state.

The list of Georgia’s top export partners in the seven months of 2019 looks as follows:

1. Russia - $261.3 million, 14.7%
2. Azerbaijan - $211.3 million, 11.9%
3. Bulgaria - $149.1 million, 8.4%
4. Armenia - $147.7 million, 8.3%
5. Ukraine – $129.3 million, 7.3%
6. Turkey - $120.8% million, 6.8%
7. Romania - $110.5 million, 6.2%
8. The US - $70.176 million, 4.0%
9. China - $52.823 million, 3%
10. Uzbekistan - $49.174 million, 2.8%

Russia is also listed in the top trading partners by imports. In January-June 2019 the share of the top ten trading partners by imports in Georgia amounted to 66.3 percent. The top partners were Turkey ($722.1 million), China ($430.7 million) and Russia ($416.5 million).

In January-June 2019 the share of the top ten trading partners in the total external trade turnover of Georgia amounted to 67.2 percent. The top trading partners were Turkey ($ 843.0 million), Russia ($677.8 million) and Azerbaijan ($508.9 million).

Also, in 2019 the exports from Georgia to the EU countries amounted to $426.9 million (16.1% higher compared to January-June 2018) and constituted 24.0 % of total exports, while the imports amounted to $1 084.9 million (10.8 percent lower) with 25.9 %in total imports.

The external trade turnover of Georgia with the EU countries amounted to $1 511.8 million, showing a 4.6% decrease compared to the corresponding indicator of the previous year. The EU countries accounted for 27.2 percent of the trade deficit.

In January-June 2019 the exports to the CIS countries stood at $916.2 million (27.1 % higher compared to January-June 2018) and reached 51.6 percent of total exports, while the imports equaled %1 116.7 million (15.6 percent lower) with 26.6 percent in total import. The trade turnover with the CIS countries totaled $2 032.9 million (0.5 % lower). The CIS countries accounted for 8.3 percent of the overall trade deficit in the corresponding period

Geostat reports that in January-June 2019, the external merchandise trade of Georgia amounted to $5 968.3 million, 0.6 % lower year-on-year.

Copper ores and concentrates reclaimed the first place in the list of top export items, equaling $306.6 million or 17.3 percent of total exports. The exports of motor cars totaled $260.5 million, and their share in the total exports amounted to 14.7 percent. The ferroalloys exports occupied third place standing at $179.2 million and constituting 10.1 percent of the total exports.

As for the top import commodities in January-June 2019, they were petroleum and petroleum oils whose imports equaled $341.2 million (8.1 percent of the total imports). The motor cars followed in the list with $308.8 million, or 7.4 percent of imports. The copper ores and concentrates were third in the top import commodity list with $266.8 million (6.4 percent of imports).