The FINANCIAL — The share of Georgian exports on the US market increased by 5 times in 2010 compared to 2009. The growth has predominantly been influenced by the rising share of ferroalloys, scrap-iron, nuts and fruit juices. Overall in 2010 1.85 million of exports were realized – according to the National Statistics Office of Georgia.
Although the export of goods has significantly risen from Georgia, the number of companies exporting fell from 123 to 106 in 2010. The major exporter still remains Georgian Marganezi.
Conversely imports from the US sharply fell by 23%. Although demand for certain types of goods including automobiles, electric appliances and even online shopping for clothes and shoes are up.
Auto importers are earning their highs as the number of cars imported has increased by 11% (that is from 37,811 to 41,721 vehicles). Almost all of the 28 major importers of cars have positive sales growth including luxury cars importers.
Auto Line which imports brand new luxury cars from the US has shown steady growth of 10-20% throughout 2010. Sales also grew at Hyundai Auto Georgia, by 30% from the second half of 2010. As Lasha Goguadze, Sales Manager at Auto Lines told us, as well as Georgians they’ve orders from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan too, although the majority of buyers are still Georgians.
“The price of luxury cars range from 30-120,000 USD. However the majority of clients buy cars priced on average 40,000 USD,” said Goguadze.
“Every day we sell at least 6-7 cars in this range; we also have Japanese cars and ones imported from Dubai although the majority are still US imported. In addition we also have used cars but most of them are post 2003 models,” noted Goguadze.
Online shopping boom – US to Georgia
Internet sales of goods which are delivered to Georgia have become very popular among Georgians. As the major transportation companies, who make deliveries of such goods from the US, claim, demand for online shopping is increasing for clothes, shoes and accessories.
The European online shopping market is not actively demanded by Georgians as company reps claim the major reason is the high price of products in Europe.
“On average 300-500 parcels are delivered to our clients every week and the number of deliveries show stable growth,” said David Kurkhuli, CEO of Express Line Services.
“The prices of transportation depend on the weight per kilogram of the product. At Express Line Services the price per kilo is 8 USD, equivalent in GEL. The price decreases in accordance with the weight. If the product weighs 50 kilos the price is 7 USD per kilo, from 200-500 kilos – 6 USD, and 500-1,000 kilo (without packing cost) – 5 USD,” noted Kurkhuli.
“During the last two months sales have grown by 20-30% on all types of goods including car parts. The majority of our clients buy products within the 300 USD range as long as over this line production goes through duties,’’ said Kurkhuli.
However, as Kurkhuli noted there are some restrictions on imported products such as food products, easily flammable goods such as perfume, paint, firearms, pornographic production, animals, seeds, bones, fur, products including narcotic substances as well as coins and notes of any country.
“All the loads are insured by us; we insure items up to 500 USD worth whilst over this amount the buyer has to insure individually,” Kurkhuli told The FINANCIAL.
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