Georgia earns $116m by exporting 53m bottles of wine

Georgia exported 52.7 million bottles of wine to 45 countries from January to September 2017, adding $116 million to the economy.

Revenue increased by 55 percent from the same period in 2016, while the volume of exports increased by 63 percent, said the Georgian National Wine Agency.

The top five countries that imported Georgian wine in January-September 2017 were Russia, China, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Poland.

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

Georgian wine export grew to the following countries:

• Russia – 95 percent (33,243,157 bottles)
• Ukraine – 54 percent (5,322,683 bottles)
• China – 44 percent (5,537,261 bottles)
• Latvia – 36 percent (1,141,778 bottles)
• Poland – 14 percent (869,852 bottles)

Meanwhile, Georgia exported 11,354,403 bottles of Georgian brandy to 22 countries in the first nine months of 2017. This was a 89 percent increase year-over-year (y/y).

So far this year, Georgia has generated $25 million from the sale of brandy abroad.

Georgia also exported 147,000 bottles of Chacha – 131 percent more compared to the same period of last year. By selling Chacha abroad Georgia generated $439,300, which was 83 percent increase y/y.

In total, Georgia has sold $194 million worth of alcoholic beverages in January-September 2017, including wine, brandy, chacha and others.