“In the third quarter, at the peak of tourism, consumption and, therefore, local production should have both increased. We see that the production of meat, milk and eggs decreased.”
FactCheckverified the accuracy of the statement.
Graph 1:
Production of Meat (thousand tons), Milk (thousand litres) and Eggs (million pieces) in 2014-2017 (III Quarter)
Source: National Statistics Office of Georgia
As illustrated in the graph, the production of meat, milk and eggs in the third quarter of 2017 did indeed decrease as compared to the same period of the previous year. In particular, the production of meat decreased by 18%, the production of milk decreased by 12% and the production of eggs decreased by 7%.
Table 1:
Production of Meat (thousand tons), Milk (thousand litres) and Eggs (million pieces) in 2007-2013 (III Quarter)
| Year | Meat | Milk | Eggs |
| 2007 | 11.9 | 190.4 | 121.8 |
| 2008 | 10.3 | 184.2 | 101.5 |
| 2009 | 11.2 | 174.7 | 102.8 |
| 2010 | 14.4 | 186.6 | 111.9 |
| 2011 | 12 | 172.7 | 121.4 |
| 2012 | 8.3 | 177 | 112 |
| 2013 | 9.3 | 179.9 | 110.7 |
As illustrated by the table, there are no identifiable growth or decrease trends in the production of meat, eggs and milk. From time to time, the production of these goods was either on the rise or showed a decline.
In regard to the first three quarters (January-September) of the previous and ongoing years, we have the following picture – the production of meat is stable, the production of milk experiences an annual decrease and the production of eggs has been decreasing since 2016.
Graph 2:
Production of Meat (thousand tons), Milk (thousand litres) and Eggs (million pieces) in Three Quarters of 2014-2017
Of note is that we cannot compare 2014-2017 data to 2007-2013 figures because the principal source of research in 2007-2015 was the 2004 agriculture census. In 2016, the research selection database was updated and is now based on the 2014 agriculture census. In order to ensure comparability, the National Statistics Office of Georgia has recalculated the 2014 and 2015 figures.
Conclusion
In the third quarter of 2017, the production of meat decreased by 18%, the production of milk by 12% and the production of eggs by 7% as compared to the same period of the previous year. In regard to the figures for the last four years, the production of meat and eggs has had a tendency of decrease whilst the production of milk shows fluctuations in terms of periodic increase and decline since 2014.
The total figures of the first three quarters of 2017 combined also demonstrate the drop in production, especially in regard to the production of eggs and milk.
FactCheck concludes that Zurab Tchiaberashvili’s statement is TRUE.
