Baku, Azerbaijan, July 16
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
In 2010-2018 the turnover of the automobile sector in Georgia grew by an average of 14.8 percent per year, Trend reports with reference to the research of the investment banking and investment management services company in Georgia Galt & Taggart.
In 2018, 64.7 percent of the sector accounted for the sale of cars, 31.9 percent for the sale of auto parts, and 3.4 percent for auto repairs.
According to the research, in 2018 car exports accounted for 12.2 percent of total exports from Georgia. Import of cars accounted for 6.6 percent of total imports.
Georgia imports cars from various countries and re-exports them to neighboring markets. This in turn led to the development of a strong domestic auto parts and auto servicing sector as the vehicles that are imported are mostly used, then repaired and sold on in the domestic and external markets.
In monetary terms, exports amounted to $408.9 million, imports - $598.2 million.
The report said the largest number of cars in Georgia is imported from the US.
Meanwhile, the increased demand for Toyota hybrid cars boosted imports from Belgium ($125.4 million).
Despite the actual ban of right-hand drive cars, Japan keeps a considerable share in the market, and takes the third place on the total amount of import of cars to Georgia.
In particular, Japan delivered cars worth $49.5 million to Georgia in 2018. The majority of these cars were either hybrids or electric vehicles – at the same time, electric vehicles have been exempted from payment of the customs duties.
(1 USD = 2,84 GEL on July 16)
