Georgian external trade up 3% in January-August with Turkey, Russia, US top partners

The Georgian external trade turnover amounted to $14.70 billion between January-August, posting a three percent year-on-year increase with the list of top trading partners of the county topped by Turkey with $2.08 billion, Russia with $1.63 billion and the United States with $1.27 billion, the National Statistics office said on Thursday.

The value of exports increased by 2.5 percent and equalled $4.17 billion, while imports also increased by 3.3 percent, amounting to $10.52 billion in the reporting period.

The list of exports was headed by Kyrgyzstan ($745.5mln), Kazakhstan ($538.2mln) and Azerbaijan ($476mln), while imports were topped by Turkey ($1.76bln), the United States ($1.18bln) and Russia ($1.16bln).

Motor vehicles dominated the list of top export items, reaching a value of $1.47 billion, accounting for 35.4 percent of the total exports. Following closely behind were ferro-alloys with a total export value of $219.6 million, constituting 5.3 percent of the overall exports. Wine of fresh grapes secured the third position, with exports totalling $196.6 million, making up 4.7 percent of the total exports.

In the meantime, the primary import commodities were motor cars, with imports totalling $1.97 billion, accounting for 18.8 percent of the total imports. Petroleum and petroleum oils took second place with $880 million, representing 8.4 percent of imports, followed by medical drugs packaged in doses, the import of which amounted to $416 million, equivalent to four percent of total imports.