Indexes

After quite a number of declines, food prices started to increase at the beginning of October signaling the end of the fresh fruits and vegetable season.
Retail FPI for the 2nd week of October is 5% higher compared to the last week of September. An increase in prices is driven mostly by the increase in the price of vegetables and fruits. Plum became 35.4% more expensive in October, eggplants’ price increased by 21.4%, and apples gained in price 17%.
Although average prices increased, not all the supermarkets have higher prices compared to the previous month. As indicated by the diagram there is a high difference in prices (high variance) in fall caused by one of the supermarket’s huge promotions in September. Since up to fall, prices were more or less stable, seasonal promotions appear to be used by Georgian retail food chains.
Some of the most aggressively promoted products in September were poultry meat, pork and beef. Although frozen chicken lost in value relatively small 4%, the price of pork declined by 30%. Beef prices dropped by even more and showed 38% decline as a result of promotions.
Apple production is mainly concentrated in the Shida Kartli region, which accounted for 71% of total production in 2023; beyond which, Mtskheta-Mtianeti contributed 8.5%, while Kvemo Kartli accounted for 7.3%.
The National Statistics Office of Georgia (GeoStat) has published its second quarterly bulletin for 2024. The publication highlights that the real GDP in agriculture, forestry, and fishing increased by 0.7% compared to the first quarter of 2023. Furthermore, agriculture contributed to 5.3% of the country’s total GDP during the first quarter of 2024.
In June 2024, the National Statistics Office of Georgia issued its annual publication on the agricultural sector – Agriculture of Georgia 2023. The publication estimates that agriculture, forestry, and fishing comprised 6.9% of the GDP in 2023, which is slightly lower than in previous years, but in line with general trends over the last few years (agricultural GDP being 7-8% of GDP on average).
In June 2023, responding to appeals from the Georgian Flour Producers Association, the Georgian government imposed a temporary import duty on wheat flour imported from Russia. This advocacy by the Association began after Russia implemented a “floating tariff” on wheat in 2021, making wheat imports more expensive compared to wheat flour.
Citrus production in Georgia is currently experiencing a declining trend, despite the implementation of a tangerine state subsidy program. Under the program, farmers receive 30 instead of 15 tetri for 1 kg of non-standard (low-quality) tangerines.