Georgia’s exports grow 19.6% in Jan-Sept, nearly 4 times import pace

Photo: the National Committee on Statistics Uzbekistan

BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 18. Georgia’s exports grew 19.6% year-on-year to $6.15 billion in January-September 2026, outpacing the 5.3% growth in imports, which reached $14.38 billion, according to the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).

According to Trend’s calculations, the gap between export and import growth rates stood at 14.3 percentage points over the nine-month period — exports expanded at roughly 3.7 times the pace of imports. The stronger export performance also lifted Georgia’s export coverage ratio (exports as a share of imports) to 42.8% in January-September 2026, from 37.7% in the same period of 2025. This means export earnings covered a larger share of the import bill than a year earlier. Total foreign trade turnover reached $20.5 billion, up 9.2%, while the trade deficit stood at $8.23 billion.

Exports reached $793.9 million in July 2026 — the highest monthly figure in the 2023-2026 period covered by Geostat’s release. September exports set a record for that month at $731.2 million.

More detailed figures for January-August 2026 show a shift in export structure. Domestic exports (excluding re-exports) rose 63.5% and accounted for more than 60% of total exports. While motor cars remained the single largest export category, their volume declined year-on-year. Shipments of petroleum products and precious metal ores and concentrates increased sharply and became the second- and third-largest commodity groups.

Trend’s calculations indicate that, with domestic exports up 63.5% and their share above 60%, re-exports likely fell by roughly 15% or more in the period, assuming total export growth in January-August was close to the nine-month figure of 19.6%.

Kyrgyzstan, China and Russia were the leading export destinations in January-August. Türkiye remained the top source of imports, followed by Russia and the United States.

The nine-month results continue the trend of exports growing faster than imports that was already visible earlier in 2026.