Georgian external trade up 16.2% in January-October with Turkey, Russia, US top trading partners

Turkey with $2.46 billion, Russia with $2.04 billion and the United States with $1.66 billion were the top trading partners of Georgia in its total external trade turnover between January and October, the National Statistics office of Georgia said on Monday.

Georgia's top trading partners by exports were Azerbaijan ($713.5mln), Armenia ($657.5 million) and Kazakhstan ($579.9 million), while imports were topped by Turkey ($2.10 billion), US ($1.59 billion) and Russia ($1.48 billion).

The top export items were the following:

• Motor vehicles - $1.76 billion (34.5 percent of total exports)
• Copper ores and concentrates - $450.9 million (8.8 percent)
• Wine of fresh grapes - $217.3 million (4.3 percent)

The three top import commodities included:

1. Motor vehicles - $2.58 billion (20.4 percent of the total imports)
2. Petroleum and petroleum oils - $928.6 million (7.3 percent)
3. Medical drugs - $445.2 million (3.5 percent)

Overall, Georgian external trade turnover amounted to $17.78 billion in January-October, posting a 16.2 percent increase year-on-year. 

The value of exports rose by 12.5 percent and equalled $5.10 billion, while imports also grew by 17.8 percent, amounting to $12.68 billion in the reporting period.

Trade deficit, a measure of the negative balance of trade in which imports exceed exports, reached $7.58 billion, and the share of trade turnover hit 42.6 percent.