BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
After a successful season 2018/2019, Georgia again became a net importer of apples, Trend reports referring to EastFruit portal.
During 2019/2020 season, the second largest export revenue (in USD) in recent years has been observed. One of the reasons is the increased prices for fresh Georgian apples.
In the 2019/2020 season, Georgia imported 12,000 tons of fresh apples, which is 45 percent more than the average for the last six seasons, but lower than in the last two seasons of high imports (2015/2016, 2017/2018).
The variable structure of imports is related to the variations in the harvest in Georgia: in years with low harvests, the imports increase. After the peak of 2018/2019, exports decreased by five times, which was primarily conditioned by the harvest, which has decreased by about half.
Among the main trading partners, Turkey and Iran accounted for 80 percent of apples' imports for the last 4 seasons, and Russia remained the main exporter of apples (80 percent of the export for the last 4 seasons for exports). [right]
The average import price of the seasons from 2014/2015 to 2019/2020 was $437 per ton, and the average export price was $405. However, import prices are on a downward trend. In 2019/2020, Georgia imported apples at $385 per tonne, and export prices were 40 percent higher.
Georgian farmers expect a high harvest in the 2020/2021 season.
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