BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Sixteen enterprises own the Georgian milk trademark; however, out of this number, only seven enterprises have a trademark on the label, Trend reports citing Georgiandairy.org, the information and analytical resource for the livestock sector in Georgia.
As reported, the remaining nine companies are still in the process of labeling the products. Their products under the trademark of Georgian milk will begin to gradually appear in the Georgian market.
Consumers can already purchase dairy products of the following companies that have the trademark: LLC Milkeni, Tsintskaro +, Kvelis kokhi (Cheese hut), Tsivis kveli (Tsivski cheese), Caesar, Tsipora Samtskhe, ShuaMta.
Prior to the assignment of a trademark, the compliance of sanitary standards with the requirements of the legislation of Georgia is checked, and a laboratory analysis of those dairy products on which the trademark should be placed is carried out. After the trademark has been assigned, a regular laboratory study of the products is carried out by the Georgian Institute of Business.
Export of dairy products from Georgia amounted to $3.4 million in 2019, says the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).
In 2019, 3.4 million liters of raw or unpasteurized milk worth $1.4 million were exported from Georgia, which is 34 percent more compared to 2018 and 6 percent less compared to 2017.
Exports of cheese amounted to $377,000, which is 27 percent of exports of this category.
In 2019, cheese exports increased by 25 percent compared to 2018.
Georgian cheese was mainly exported to the US ($290,000), Israel ($52,000) and Uzbekistan ($21,000).
Export prices for cheese fell, with the average annual price in 2019 amounted to $8.33 per kilogram.
In 2018, this figure amounted to $9.33, and in 2017 – to $8.80.
According to Geostat's agricultural survey, households in Georgia produced 555.3 million liters of milk in 2018 which is an increase of 5.1 percent compared to 2017.
As for milk processed by factories, 7,479 tons of milk worth 15.9 million lari ($5.5 million) were produced in the first nine months of 2019.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Mila61979356