Georgia earns $55m by exporting over 24m bottles of wine

Georgia exported 24.75 million bottles of wine to 41 countries from January to May 2017, adding $55.52 million to the economy.

Revenue increased by 58 percent from the same period in 2016, while the volume of exports increased by 64 percent, said the Georgian National Wine Agency.

The top five countries that imported Georgian wine in January-May 2017 were:

1. Russia – 14,820,976 bottles
2. China – 3,234,144 bottles
3. Ukraine – 2,364,112 bottles
4. Kazakhstan – 1,048,195 bottles
5. Poland – 978,360 bottles

Wine exports also increased to the European Union (EU), China and other traditional export markets for Georgia, said the Georgian National Wine Agency.

This year exports of Georgian wine increased to:

• France – 500 percent (89,986 bottles)
• Israel – 253 percent (92,310 bottles)
• Azerbaijan – 202 percent (77,202 bottles)
• China – 160 percent (3,234,144 bottles)
• Russia – 96 percent (14,820,976 bottles)
• Belarus – 59 percent (416,962 bottles)
• United States – 54 percent (148,470 bottles)
• Ukraine – 28 percent (2,364,112 bottles)
• Germany – 18 percent (167,296 bottles)
• Poland – 17 percent (978,360 bottles)

Meanwhile, Georgia exported 5,521,594 bottles of Georgian brandy to 17 countries in the first five months of 2017. This was a 66 percent increase year-over-year (y/y).

So far this year, Georgia has generated $13.3 million from the sale of brandy abroad.

Georgia also exported 73,586 bottles of Chacha – 95 percent more compared to the same period of last year. By selling Chacha abroad Georgia generated $205,200, which was 47 percent increase y/y.

In total, Georgia has sold $100.8 million worth of alcoholic beverages in January-May 2017, including wine, brandy, chacha and others.