“A 62% growth of the export production [of wine] has already been recorded this year. If last year 47 million bottles of wine were exported, this year the export amounts to 43 million in just nine months.”
On 15 October 2014, during his speech at the plenary session of the Parliament of Georgia, the Head of the Agrarian Issues Committee, Gigla Agulashvili, stated: “If we look at the dynamics of 2012 and 2013 and compare it to that of the current year, there is already a 62% growth in wine export. If last year 47 million bottles of wine were exported, this year the export amounts to 43 million in just nine months.”
FactChecktook interest in this statement and verified its accuracy.
According to the data published on the National Agency of Wine website, the overall export of wine in 39 countries of the world amounted to 42.8 million bottles (1 bottle = 0.75 litre) in the first nine months (January to September) of 2014 which is 62% higher than in the same period of the previous year. The overall value of wine export amounted to USD 137.1 million which is 64% more than in the first nine months of 2013. In total, 65% of exported wine goes to Russia. The wine export to Russia amounted to 27.9 million bottles in the first nine months of 2014. The top ten export markets for Georgian wine are as follows: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland, Belarus, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Azerbaijan.
FactCheck wroteabout the growth of wine export earlier in the year as well. The overall amount of exported wine equalled 35.9 million litres or 47.9 million bottles (0.75 litres) in 2013. The income from the exported wine amounted to USD 129.5 million which is 195.2% higher than it was in 2012.
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Conclusion
According to the National Agency of Wine, the overall export of wine amounted to 42.8 million bottles (1 bottle = 0.75 litre) in the first nine months (January to September) of 2014 which is 62% higher than in the same period of the previous year. The overall value of wine export amounted to USD 137.1 million which is 64% more than in the first nine months of 2013.
The overall amount of exported wine equalled 35.9 million litres or 47.9 million bottles (0.75 litres) in 2013. The income from the exported wine amounted to USD 129.5 million which is 195.2% higher than in 2012.
Hence, Gigla Gogashvili’s statement: “A 62% growth of the export production [of wine] has already been recorded this year. If last year 47 million bottles of wine were exported, this year the export amounts to 43 million in just nine months,” is TRUE.
