26 Jul 2010 13:58

Georgia

TBILISI. July 26 (Interfax) - Georgia's foreign trade in January-June 2010 came to $2.951 billion, which was a year-on-year increase of 18%, the National Statistics Service told Interfax.

Exports went up by 40% to $720.7 million while imports decreased by 13% to $2.231 billion. Therefore, the country's foreign trade deficit came to $1.51 billion, up 3% year-on-year.

Georgia's trade with CIS countries in January-June increased by 25% to $945 million (32% of total foreign trade) and with EU countries - by 16% to $771 million (26% of total trade).

Georgia's leading trade partners are Turkey with 16.8% of total foreign trade, Azerbaijan - 10.1%, Ukraine - 9.7%, U.S. - 5.9% and Germany - 5.3%.

Russia, trade with which increased by 2.1% year-on-year to $153.3 million, dropped from fourth to sixth place among Georgia's trading partners (5.2% of total trade). Exports from Georgia to Russia increased by 69% to $17.5 million while imports of Russian goods slipped by 2.8% to $135.8 million.

Ferrous alloys accounted of 17.9% of total Georgian exports in the first half of 2010 while oil and petroleum products accounted for 13.1% of imports.