Georgia’s Foreign Trade Ups 25.6% in 2021
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, January 21, 2022
The 2021 Foreign Trade preliminary results of Georgia were published by the National Statistics Office (Geostat) on January 20. According to the document, Georgia’s foreign trade turnover increased by 25.6% year-over-year in 2021, equaling $ 14.3 billion.
Turkey topped the list of Georgia’s largest trading partners by turnover, with $2.1 billion, followed by Russia with $1.6 billion, China with $1.5 billion, Azerbaijan with $1.1 billion, and the United States with $820 million.
Georgia's exports increased by $900 million (27%) to $4.2 billion last year. China still ranks first in exports, where 615.6 million goods were exported. Exports to China increased by 29%. Exports to Russia increased by 38% at a higher rate and reached $610 million, as a result of which Russia left Azerbaijan and became the second-largest export market of Georgia.
China was Georgia’s largest trading partner by exports with $615.6 million, followed by Russia with $610 million, Azerbaijan with $531.7 million, Of this, 248 million came from re-exports of cars, Turkey with $322.2 million, and Ukraine with $307.3 million.
Georgia's main exports to the Chinese market are copper ores and concentrates, which account for 80% of total exports ($ 497 million); In turn, these products are also 80% re-export and it is mainly not export of goods made in Georgia. Consequently, most of the exports to China are not Georgian goods. Georgia's main export to Russia is ferroalloys, whose exports to Russia increased to $ 172 million (59%) last year. The second place in exports to Russia falls on wines, whose exports amounted to $131 million (an increase of 10%).
According to the document, the main export of Georgia during this period were copper ores and concentrates, $ 815 million, which is 19% of total exports. Ferroalloys came in second with $ 477 million in exports, followed by re-exports of automobiles with $ 456 million. Next were wine or fresh grapes – $ 239.3 million; spirits – $ 155.7 million; mineral waters – $ 141.8 million; nitrogen fertilizers – $ 119.5 million; nuts – $ 118.3 million; medicines – $99.1 million; gold – $64.2 million; other commodities – 1.6 billion.
The second half of the top ten countries by export are Armenia, an increase of 36.9% over the previous year; Bulgaria, a decrease of 18.8% over the previous year; US, an increase of 143.2%; Kazakhstan, an increase of 102%; Spain - $89.3 million, an increase of 6.7%.
As for the groups of countries, Georgian exports to the EU increased by only 3% last year and reached 717 million, which was 16.9% of total exports. In the CIS, exports increased by 34% to $2 billion, or 47.6% of exports.
Exports to the EU peaked in 2019 at $805 million. In the same year, the EU's share of total exports was 21.2%, in 2020 it decreased to 20.8%, and in 2021 it decreased to an additional 16.9%.
Last year, Georgia's largest traded commodity in the EU market was copper ores and concentrates, which are mainly re-exports. Exports of these goods to the EU market amounted to $315 million, which is 44% of exports to the EU, followed by exports of hazelnuts with $80 million.
Imports rose by 25.1% to $10.1 billion. Meanwhile, the trade deficit was $5.8 billion, 40.7% of total turnover.
Turkey, Russia, China, the U.S., and Azerbaijan were the top trading partners of Georgia in terms of imports, with $1.8 billion, $1 billion, $864.9 million, $625.3 million, and $604.4 million, respectively.
According to the Geostat report, imports from all 10 of Georgia's largest imported goods have increased. Cars were first on the list of import items with $ 898.8 million; followed by petroleum oils – $822.6 million; copper ores and concentrates – $736.1 million; medicines – $382 million; petroleum – $354.6 million; telephone sets – $222.2 million; automatic data processing machines – $147.7 million; vaccines, blood, and immune products – $119.9 million; vehicles for the transport of goods – $ 105 million; cigars, cigarillos, and cigarettes – $101.8 million; other commodities – $6.2 billion.
Georgia’s trade turnover had decreased by 14.8% in 2020 compared to 2019.
