Georgia’s Biggest Export since Pandemic Began Was Last Month - $430 Million
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Tuesday, December 14
Export statistics for November 2021 have been published by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat), according to which $ 430 million worth of goods were exported from Georgia abroad last month. This is 43% or $129 million more than the previous year. Overall, in the first 11 months of this year, Georgian exports were $ 3.82 billion, an increase of 26.7% year on year.
The volume of imported goods is growing at a high rate as well. In November, for the first time since the pandemic began, imports exceeded $ 1 billion, reaching $ 1.01 billion. Imports in November were $ 293 million, or 40.6% more than the previous year.
In 11 months of the year as a whole, Georgia bought $9 billion worth of goods from abroad, which is 24.5% more than in 2020.
Detailed data on Georgia's foreign trade will be published on December 20 of this year, as a result of which it will be clear which products' imports and exports increased during November.
As of now, the Petroleum Importers Union has reported that oil imports continue to grow. According to the Union, in January-November 2021, the import of gasoline and diesel fuel in Georgia amounted to 1,042.3 thousand tons, which is 3.7% more than in the same period last year. The figure for the same period in 2019 is 5% more.
Significantly, gasoline imports increased while diesel imports decreased. In the first 11 months of 2021, 537.5 thousand tons were imported, which is 8.9% more than in the same period last year. By categories, 346.3 thousand tons (64.4%) of A-91 regular type gasoline in January-November 2021; 180.3 thousand tons (33.5%) - A-95 premium gasoline and 10.9 thousand tons (2.0%) - A-98 super gasoline were imported.
As for diesel fuel, the volume of imports amounted to 1.2% less than the same period in 2020.
In the first 11 months of this year, the largest volume of imports of gasoline and diesel fuel came from Turkmenistan (229 thousand tons), accounting for 22% of total imports. Then come: Russia -19.5%; Azerbaijan - 18.7%; Romania - 17.1%; Bulgaria - 15.3%; Greece - 3.4% and others.
It should also be noted that in January-November 2021, Turkmenistan became the largest supplier of gasoline imports, importing 156.2 thousand tons of gasoline, which is 29.1% of total gasoline fuel imports. It should also be noted that all gasoline imported from Turkmenistan comes from A-91 regular fuel.
The Union of Petroleum Importers explains the reasons for the increase in fuel imports and notes that the increase in consumption is directly related to the recovery of the economy.
“Despite the record high prices of fuel this year, there is an increase in imports and consumption, which is directly related to the rapid recovery and growth of the country's economy. It is also noteworthy that the statistics of diesel imports show a positive trend, which is associated with a decrease in the inflow of unregistered products into the country, which is associated with tightening the administration.”
The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development commented on the above-mentioned data, saying that the process of rapid economic recovery continues, one of the indicators of which is foreign trade. “Foreign trade data for November show that exports continue to grow at a very good pace, especially exports of Georgian products,” she underscored.
