Georgia exports wine to 33 countries in 2015

More Georgian wine is continuing to be exported to foreign countries and enjoyed by people all over the world.

Export figures released by Georgia’s National Wine Agency revealed more than 13.7 million bottles of wine was exported to 33 countries across the globe in the first half of 2015.

The total income received from wine exports was about $39.5 million USD in the six-month period.

The figures also revealed wine exports increased to the following places:

• Hong Kong – by 230 percent;
• Canada – by 159 percent;
• The United States of America – by 61 percent;
• Great Britain – by 33 percent;
• China – by 23 percent;
• Japan – by 21 percent;
• Latvia – by 20 percent;
• Estonia – by 16 percent;
• Kazakhstan – by 6 percent; and
• Germany – by 5 percent.

Meanwhile the volume of Georgian wine exports significantly decreased to Russia (by 63 percent) and Ukraine (by 60 percent).

"This was due to unstable political and economic situation,” the National Wine Agency said.

Despite this, Russia and Ukraine remained among the top countries to import Georgian wine. In the first six month of 2015 the top five importers of Georgian wine were: 

• Russia – about 6.5 million bottles;
• Kazakhstan – about 2.2 million bottles;
• Ukraine – about 1.2 million bottles;
• Poland – about 80,000 bottles; and
• China – about 76,000 bottles.

Overall, these numbers saw an increase of Georgian wine exports by slightly more than 50 percent since 2012.