Turkey, Russia and China - Georgia’s Top Trade Partner in 2018

National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) has released the information about the external merchandise preliminary data of January-September 2018, according to which, the top partners were Turkey, Russia and China.

The top ten chart of the 9-month period in 2018 looks as follows:

Turkey - $1 059.3 million
Russia - $ 675.6 million
China - $ 647.9 million
Azerbaijan - $ 399 501.3
Ukraine - $ 361 015.9
Germany - $ 318 021.4
US - $263 878.4
Armenia - $ 252 481.1
France - $ 188 381.5
Netherlands - $ 166 900.6

In January-September 2018 the share of the top ten trading partners by imports in the total imports of Georgia amounted to 64.9 percent.

According to the report, in January-September the external merchandise trade of Georgia amounted to $9 124.8 million, 20.8 percent higher year-on-year.

The exports equaled $2 448.1 million (25.7 percent higher), while the imports stood at $6 676.7 million (19.1 percent higher).

The negative trade balance was $4 228.6 million in January-September 2018 and its share in external trade turnover constituted 46.3 percent. The exports excluding re-exports amounted to$ 1 716.8 million, 12.8 percent higher year-on-year.

The nine-month data reads that the exports from Georgia to the EU countries amounted to $533.0 million (13.2 percent higher compared to the January-September 2017) and constituted 21.8 percent in total exports, while the imports amounted to $1 950.4 million (21.5 percent higher) with 29.2 percent in total imports.

In addition, the external trade turnover of Georgia with the EU countries amounted to $2 483.4 million, grew by 19.6 percent compared to the corresponding indicator of the previous year. 33.5 percent of the trade deficit came to the EU countries.

Also, in January-September 2018 the exports to the CIS countries stood at $ 1 161.6 million (47.2 percent higher compared to the January-September 2017) and reached 47.5 percent of total exports, while the imports equaled $1 942.3 million (20.3 percent higher) with 29.1 percent in total import. The external trade turnover with the CIS countries totaled $3 104.0 million (higher by 29.2 percent). The CIS countries accounted for 18.5 percent of the overall trade deficit in the corresponding period.