Page 22 - GEORptDec20

Georgia’s foreign trade deficit shrinks 29% y/y post-crisis
The foreign trade deficit of Georgia has narrowed significantly since the pandemic began, with the gap decreasing by 29% y/y to $1.66bn in the March-August period.
In August alone, it decreased by 28% y/y to $350mn.
The volume of exports from Georgia in the five months since global trade contracted massively shrank by 19% to $1.29bn. But imports—larger in absolute value—plunged by 25% to $2.95bn y/y, driven by weak domestic demand besides smaller re-exports, resulting in a thinner deficit.
In August, the pattern was even more visible: exports decreased by an encouraging 6.3% y/y to $292.4mn and imports saw a sharp 19.3% y/y contraction rate to $643.3mn. The deficit thus shrank by 28% y/y to $351mn. In the whole January-August period, exports from Georgia decreased by 14.7% y/y to $2.07bn, and imports were down by 17.5% y/y to $4.9bn, with the trade deficit coming in at $2.88bn.
China tops the list of trading partners by exports with $296.5mn, followed by Azerbaijan, Russia, Bulgaria and Turkey with $284.2mn, $266mn, $216.3mn and $129.6mn, respectively.
Turkey, Russia, China, the US and Azerbaijan are the top trading partners of Georgia in terms of imports with values of $840.7mn, $554.5mn, $440.9mn, $345.4mn and $309.5mn, respectively.
In January-August, copper ores and concentrates reclaimed first place on the list of top export items, equalling $462.1mn or 22.3% of total exports. Exports of motor cars totalled $260.1mn, with their share in total exports amounting to 12.6%. Ferro-alloys exports occupied third place, standing at $145.5mn and constituting 7.0% of exports.
Other important export items were wine and fresh grapes – $122mn; alcoholic beverages – $75.8mn; precious metal ores and concentrates – $75.2mn; natural or artificial mineral and carbonated waters – $69.7mn; packaged medicines – $63.6mn; gold – $59.5mn; and nitrogenous fertilizers – $53.7mn.
The top import commodities in January-August were motor cars, with imports equalling $481.6mn or 9.7% of imports. Petroleum and petroleum oils followed
22​ GEORGIA Country Report ​December 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com