Exports up, imports down in January-August in Georgia

In the first eight months of 2019, exports increased by 12.4 percent reaching $ 2 411.6 million, while the import decreased by 4.4 percent and amounted to $5 714.5 million. The trade deficit equaled $3 302.9 million and its share in trade turnover constituted 40.6 percent.

The express data was released by Georgia’s National Statistics Office (Geostat), which says that external Merchandise Trade of Georgia amounted to $ 8 126.1 million in January-August 2019, 0.01 percent higher year-on-year.

The export and import in details since the 2014 year looks as follows:

2014 – Export stood at $2 861.0 million while imports were $8 601.8 million. The total trade turnover amounted $11 462.9 million.
2015 – Export - $2 204.2 million and imports - $7 300.2 million. Trade turnover was $9 504.4 million.
2016 – Export - $2 113.0 million and imports $7 294.0 million. Trade turnover was $9 407.0 million.
2017 – Export stood at $ 2 735.8million while imports were $ 7 943.3 million. The total trade turnover amounted $ 10 679.1million.
2018 – Export - $ 3 355.7 million and imports - $ 9 136.7million. Trade turnover was $ 12 492.5million.

In addition to this, in 7 months of 2019, exports increased by 12.4% while imports went down by 4.7%. More precisely, in January-July 2019 the external merchandise trade of Georgia amounted to $7 065.3 million, 0.2 percent lower year-on-year.

The exports equaled $2 102.2 million (12.4 percent higher), while the imports amounted $ 4 963.1 million (4.7 percent lower).

Moreover, export to the European Union countries increased by 20.6% in 7 months of 2019. Exports from Georgia to the EU countries amounted to $503.5 million and constituted 24.0 % of total exports. Imports from the EU countries amounted to $1 280.2 million (12.6 percent lower) with 25.8 % in total imports.

As for the CIS countries, in January-July 2019 the exports stood at $1 105.8 million which is 26.6 % higher compared to January-July 2018. Exports reached 52.6 % of total exports, while the imports equaled $1 303.1 million (14.3 percent lower) with 26.3 % in total import.

Geostat reports that in January-July 2019 the share of the top ten trading partners in the total external trade turnover of Georgia amounted to 66.7 percent. The top trading partners in terms of both - exports and imports- were Turkey (USD 999.6 million), Russia (USD 790.2 million) and Azerbaijan (USD 600.6 million).