BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 25
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Some 2,123.14 tons of tea worth $4.58 million have been exported from Georgia from January through November 2020, Trend reports referring to the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).
The value is up 18 percent as compared to the same period of the prior year. Likewise export, import has shown growth trend, being up 7 percent this year.
With $1.84 million or 263.24 tons, Azerbaijan has been the top exporter of tea from Georgia from January through November 2020.
Following Azerbaijan, the second top exporter was Turkey, $1.68 million or 516.14 tons and the third one was Mongolia – $3.05 million, or 666.61 tons.
Tea export from Georgia valued US$ 3.88 million, or 1,779.21 tons from January through November 2019. Similar to the current year, Azerbaijan - $1.62 million and Turkey - $1.08 million were top tea exporters from Georgia.
Some 2,562.83 tons, worth $9.41 million of tea was imported to Georgia from January through November 2020, up from $8.78 million or 2,260.15 tons from the same period of the previous year.
With $4. 41 million or 716.04 tons Azerbaijan is the top tea imported to Georgia. It is followed by Sri Lanka - $2.03 million or 460.65 tons and Russia - $1.69 million or 268.53 tons.
Tea import from Azerbaijan amounted to $4 million, 644.53 tons last year, the value was $1.93 million or 582.63 tons in the case of Sri Lank and $1.69 million or 259.96 tons in the case of Russia.
According to Euromonitor International’s latest report related to the Georgian tea market as of 2019, local production of tea continued to experience a revival towards the end of the review period, supported by the government’s state program to help finance and rehabilitate abandoned plantations from the Soviet era. The program’s aim is to pass tea plantations to local players free of charge if they meet certain criteria for the production of tea, in addition to guaranteeing that they intend to use the area for tea production.
Local tea manufacturer Geoplant Ltd with its brand Gurieli strengthened its slim leadership of tea in 2019, gaining value share following the exit of smaller brands under “others” in the country, and widening the gap with its closest competitor Unilever. The latter, however, offers leading brand Lipton and benefits from strong advertising, which has helped to increase its awareness amongst local consumers over the years, the report reads.
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