Georgia

Posted on by

Georgia increases its fruit and vegetable export potential

From 2009-2013, exports of fresh vegetables and fruit from Georgia grew by 17% in volume to reach 101,000 tons. Over the same period, they also doubled in value to exceed US$ 200 million.

Georgia has started actively increasing the export potential of its fruit and vegetable industry, according to APK-Inform Agency and based on official statistics for the country.

From 2009-2013, exports of fresh vegetables and fruit from Georgia grew by 17% in volume to reach 101,000 tons. Over the same period, they also doubled in value to exceed US$ 200 million.

In many ways, this trend reflects a reorientation of Georgia’s fruit and vegetable sector towards exports to the EU due to strained relations with Russia. This reorientation has seen the EU share of general exports from Georgia grow from 12-20% in volume and 50-57% in monetary terms.

While showing a fairly modest share in the volume of export supplies, European importers provide more than half of all foreign currency revenues to the Georgian fruit and vegetable industry.

NB

Image: “Georgia proper shown in dark green; areas outside of Georgian control but claimed as part of its sovereign territory shown in light green” by Chipmunkdavis [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Posted on by

Goodwill: Georgia’s first hypermarket chain to focus on premium products

Goodwill sq

Goodwill Ltd “never compromise on quality,” according to its commercial director Beqa Petriashvili. By 2015, the retailer had opened 7 hypermarkets: 4 in Tbilisi and 1 in Rustavi, Gori and Batumi each. And this year, the company is going to open 2 new hypermarkets.

“We sell 50,000 SKU in our stores; 25% of the products are produced for us by local suppliers and we import another 25% directly ourselves. This enables us to guarantee high quality and freshness as well as the best processes,” said B. Petriashvili.

“We are going to increase the share of direct imports. As the result, we will be independent of distributors, control the whole logistics process and optimize prices.”

The main exporting countries for Georgia are Turkey and Iran, due to the country’s location (Tbilisi is 2,000 km from Istanbul and the goods are delivered by sea).

At the same time, after the introduction of an embargo in Russia, European exporters began to look for new markets and Goodwill is getting offers from them every day.

Modern Retail since the 2000’s

The modern retail sector is quite new in Georgia. The first chains opened in 2000 and their share does not exceed 15%. However, it has been developing very quickly and the competition has been toughening. This is why Goodwill has made a commitment to quality; its customers know they can find innovative products and specialties.

“We are glad to introduce novelties for our clients and we will diversify the sources of our range,” Petriashvili said.

NB

This article is from issue 137 of Eurofresh Distribution magazine. Read more free content from that edition online here.

Goodwill 137.png