Georgia’s food & agricultural exports almost hit their 1 billion USD threshold, attaining a historic maximum since independence – and that certainly sounds like something to celebrate! However, the respective imports have also increased and broken records. As a result, the trade balance (the difference between export and import) remained virtually unchanged at (-394) million USD. Although, compared to 2017, export increased by 23.2% (181 million USD), while the respective imports grew by only 15.5% (179 million USD). Out of sharp increase of 181 million USD, only 26 million USD are attributed to wine, while the rest came from trade in tobacco and cigars. Since Georgia cultivates very little tobacco, the growth was instigated mostly from the import, slight processing and re-export of tobacco products. Consequently, the export of tobacco & cigars increased by 240% in 2018, and it currently holds second place (after wine) in Georgia’s total food & agricultural exportation (nearly 160 million USD). In 2018, it contributed staggeringly to over 100 million USD in export growth.
Along with wine and tobacco, the export of Georgia’s other main food & agricultural products, such as spirits, natural and mineral water, lamb and mutton, citruses, and peaches & nectarines, also positively contributed to export growth. While the export of hazelnuts and live cattle saw a decrease from 2017.
As to prices, for food and non-alcoholic beverages, the month-over-month prices increased by 2.3%. On an annual basis for food and non-alcoholic beverages, the prices increased by 1.7%. In December 2018, the sharpest price changes on annual basis were observed for fruit and grapes (-17.5%), fish (+11.1%) and bread and cereals (+8.8%). International prices reflected in FAO Food Price Index, on the contrary, have declined by 3.5% from 2017.
Agri Review Recent Publications
JUNE 2021 | AGRI REVIEW
On 15 June 2021, the National Statistics Office of Georgia published its annual publication for the agricultural sector - Agriculture of Georgia 2020. According to the publication, agriculture, forestry, and fishing comprised 8.4% of GDP in 2020, higher than the 7.2% share in 2019, but in line with the general trend over the last five years (agricultural GDP comprising on average 7-8% of GDP). Agricultural GDP in nominal terms increased by 13% on an annual basis.… Read More
MARCH 2021 | AGRI REVIEW
On 29 December 2020, the parliament of Georgia approved the state budget for 2021, which includes allocations of around 18.3 billion GEL. From which the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) will receive 451.6 million (2.5% of the total budget allocation). MEPA will direct 10 mln. GEL towards the Environmental Protection and Agriculture Development Program (2.2% of MEPA’s total budget), with around 389.6 mln. (86.3% of MEPA’s total budget) to be allocated to agricultural… Read More
DECEMBER 2020 | AGRI REVIEW
The COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about the food security of many countries, in particular import-dependent developing countries like Georgia. Trade restrictions imposed by Georgia’s trade partners tightened the supply of some cereals and vegetables, signalling the risk of an increase in food prices. While there is no formal evidence of food insecurity due to the pandemic, given that Georgia is a net importer of wheat the state subsidized wheat imports, and, according to Georgia’s Wheat… Read More
OCTOBER 2020 | AGRI REVIEW
The National Statistics Office of Georgia (GeoStat) recently published its economic review for Quarter II 2020. The publication highlights that agricultural production increased by 4.7% in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2019. Furthermore, agriculture contributed to 10.2% of the country’s total GDP during the same period. In the second quarter of 2020, Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in agriculture also increased and were almost six times higher than the… Read More
JUNE 2020 | AGRI REVIEW
On 15 June 2020, the National Statistics Office of Georgia published its annual publication for the agricultural sector - Agriculture of Georgia 2019. The publication shows that agriculture, forestry, and fishing comprised 7.2% of the nominal GDP in 2019, slightly lower than the 7.8% share in 2018, but in line with the general trend over the last five years (on average 7-8% of GDP). In nominal terms, the output of agriculture increased by 4% in 2019… Read More
DECEMBER 2019 | AGRI REVIEW
On December 10, the parliament of Georgia approved the state budget for 2020. The budget includes allocations of around 14.4 billion GEL. Out of which, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) will receive 353 mln. GEL (2.4% of the total budget allocation). MEPA will direct approximately 293 mln. GEL (2.0% of the total budget allocation) towards agricultural development and 60 mln. GEL (0.4%) will be spent on environmental protection. Compared to 2019, the… Read More
OCTOBER 2019 | AGRI REVIEW
On 30 August 2019, a public hearing to discuss Georgia’s Rural and Agricultural Development Strategy for 2021-2027 was conducted at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA). The new strategy document represents a roadmap for Georgia’s rural and agricultural development for the next decade. The strategy outlines three major goals to be achieved by 2027: 1. Increasing the competitiveness of agricultural and non-agricultural sectors; 2. Sustainable management of natural resources, preservation of ecosystems, and… Read More
