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Georgia exports more than 28 million bottles of wine, earns $77.2b
Georgia has exported 28,101,431 bottles of wine to 42 countries in the first 10 months of 2015, generating $77.2 bln
In recent months Georgian wine has been gaining popularity in strategically important markets such as China, the European Union (EU) and United States (US), said local wine experts.
The Georgian National Wine Agency reported China was one of the most strategically important markets for Georgia, where wine exports had increased by 87 percent. Between January-October 2015 Georgia exported more than 1.8 mln bottles of wine to China.
As regards the EU, Poland was the largest importer of Georgian wine in the region with import volumes totaling 1.3 mln bottles (+2% year-on-year). Significant volumes were also purchased by Latvia - 925,000 bottles (+3%), Estonia - 389,000 tons (+35%), Germany - 211,000 bottles (+14%), the Netherlands – 47,000 bottles (+88%), and France – 29,000 bottles (twice as high as a year before).
Other strategically important markets were the USA – 209,000 bottles (+26%), Japan – 127,000 bottles (+19%), Canada – 148,000 bottles (+66%), Kyrgyzstan – 173,000 bottles (+168%), Israel – 34,000 bottles (+212%), and South Korea – 24,000 bottles (+37%).
The five countries that imported the most Georgian wine so far this year were Russia with 14.7 mln bottles, Kazakhstan with 4 mln bottles, Ukraine with 2.6 mln bottles, China with 1.8 mln bottles, and Poland, which imported 1.3 mln bottles of Georgian wine.
In general, Georgia exported 43% less wine in January-October 2015 than the previous year, which the Agency said was due to the ongoing political-economic events in the region.
"Wine exports decreased in Georgia’s two main export countries – Russia, where we see a 54% decrease and Ukraine, where wine exports dropped by 61%,” said the Agency.