Free Trade Agreement between Georgia and China has come into play on January 1, 2018, making Georgia the first country in the region to have such a deal with China.
The Agreement made free almost 94% of exported Georgian goods from the customs taxes. Exported good to China include wine, hazelnut, honey, mineral water, beer, non-alcoholic beverages, jams, juices, vegetables, fruits, chocolate products, tea, fish and other seafood, cereals, medicines, cables, plastic products, nitrogen and mineral fertilizers, ferrosilicomanganese, locomotives, etc
Although the free trade with China has been operating for a year and a half, export of Georgian products in China is declining.
In 2018, Georgia exported US$198 million of products to China, when in 2017 export volume was US$201.7 million.
The export has also decreased in the current year. In particular, in January-May 2019, export from Georgia decreased by US$10 million and amounted US$49.2 million. In 2018 export volume was US$58.8 million.
The decline of export to China is mainly related to one product – copper ores and concentrates, which is a major export product for China.
In particular, in the first five months of 2018, a US$43.8 million copper ore was exported to China. Compared to the same period of 2019, export decreased to US$29.3 million.
The volume of other major export products is also reduced. For example, in 2018, the export of Georgian Wine amounted to US$19,8 million. In 2017 the volume of exported wine amounted to US$20.4 million.
From US$7.5 million to US$1.3 million was reduced the export / re-export of motor cars to China.
As for those products whose exports have increased, the top 10 include: ginger, saffron, urts, bay leaf, curry and other spices. In the first 5 month of the year US$1.2 million spices were exported to China.
The export of nuts and walnuts almoust doubled in comparison with previous year and reached US $454 000.
In 2018, Georgian beer was in the list of Top 10 export products to China. In particular, in January-May, 2018 US $76 000 of beer was exported to China, but this year beer is not in the list of Top 10.
