The FINANCIAL — External merchandise trade of Georgia amounted to 9,247 million USD in 2011, according to data of the National Statistics Office of Georgia.
The number had increased by 36 percent in comparison to the previous year. The volume of export increased by 39 percent and reached up to 2,189 million USD in 2011, while import grew by 34 percent and amounted to 7,058 million USD.
“Trade deficit reached 4,869 million USD, up 32 percent from 2010. Despite the growing absolute rate of trade deficit, its share in external trade has been gradually decreasing since 2007. This indicator reached its lowest margin, 52.7 percent in 2011,” Geostat officials said.
The number of trading partner countries of Georgia is growing annually. They reached a maximum last year. 147 countries had trade relationships with Georgia in 2011.
The share of the ten biggest trade partner countries makes up 67 percent of the country’s entire trade. Turkey with 1,500 million USD, Azerbaijan with 1,037 million USD and the Ukraine with 847 million USD remain the main trade partners of Georgia. The other main trade partners of the country are China, Germany, Russia, the USA, Bulgaria, Armenia and the United Arab Emirates.
“The foreign trade of Georgia with EU countries was 2,477 million USD in 2011 which is 41 percent more compared to the same data of the previous year. Out of the whole trade turnover export was 424 million USD which is 46 percent more than in 2010 and import was 2,053 million USD, 40 percent more than in 2010. The share of EU countries out of the country’s entire trade was 27 percent,” Geostat officials stated.
“Trade turnover with CIS countries amounted to 2,994 million USD in 2011. This had increased by 34 percent in comparison to 2011. The share of CIS out of the whole trade turnover totals 32 percent. Export with CIS countries increased by 64 percent and amounted to 1,053 million USD, while import grew by 22 percent and amounted to 1,942 million USD. The trade deficit decreased by 6 percent,” Geostat says.
Motor cars hold first place in the export commodities of 2011, the same as in 2010. Motor cars comprised 21 percent of total export coming to 450 million USD. Ferro-alloys and mineral or nitrogenous, chemical fertilizers were also leading exports. Ferro-alloys made up 12 percent of export with 255 million USD and mineral or nitrogenous, chemical fertilizers made up 7 percent with 144 million USD.
Other top export products were fresh or dried nuts (130 million USD), ferrous waste and scrap (117 million USD), unwrought or semi-manufactured gold (110 million USD), copper ores and concentrates (85 million USD), undenatured ethyl alcohol, spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages (67 million USD), bars and rods of iron (61 million USD) and wine of fresh grapes (54 million USD).
“The export of nuts experienced the biggest increase in 2011. This grew by 103 percent. As well as nuts, minerals or chemical fertilizers grew by 100 percent and motor cars – by 98 percent. As for import, leaders in terms of growth are structures and parts of structures (growth of 104 percent), automatic data processing machines (growth of 53 percent) and petroleum gases and other gases (growth of 47 percent),” Geostat officials said.
The top import products were petroleum and petroleum oils with 894 million USD, motor cars with 511 million USD and petroleum gases and other gases with 237 million USD.
The importer and exporter countries of Georgia differ from one another. The top ten exporter countries in 2011 were Azerbaijan (426 million USD), Armenia (223 million USD), Kazakhstan (157 million USD), the USA (143 million USD), the Ukraine (141 million USD), Canada (115 million USD), Bulgaria (94 million USD), Italy (76 million USD) and Germany (49 million USD).
The top ten importer countries of Georgia in 2011 were Turkey (1,272 million USD), the Ukraine (706 million USD), Azerbaijan (611 million USD), China (525 million USD), Germany (481 million USD), Russia (390 million USD), Bulgaria (256 million USD), the United Arab Emirates (226 million USD) and Romania (188 million USD).
Export and import with all these countries increased in 2011 compared to in the previous year.
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