Avocado keeps becoming more and more popular in Georgia. In 2014, the country imported only 40 tonnes – the number increased to 830 tonnes in 2022, and the annual import value exceeded $1 million for the first time. Import statistics for the first two months of 2023 show even stronger demand.
It is worth noting that there is practically no local production, and the import statistics do reflect the whole Georgian demand.
The import of avocados has been growing steadily from 2014 to 2021. Each year, Georgia’s avocado import volumes have been growing by 46% on average. Similarly, the import value in US Dollars has been growing by 33%.
Then there was a big jump in 2022 when the annual import volume increased by 2.5 times from 325 tonnes in 2021. The latter likely resulted from the influx of Russian citizens to Georgia and the Georgian economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Both factors are likely to have significantly boosted the local demand for avocados.
There are only two countries from which Georgia imports. These are Turkey and the Netherlands. Interestingly, the Netherlands was the only supplier for Georgia in 2014, but step by step Turkey gained a dominating share of the Georgian market. In 2022, the Turkish share amounted to 65%, the rest was taken up by the Netherlands.
Recent statistics hint at even stronger demand in 2023. In January-February 2023, Georgia imported 215 tonnes of avocados, 2.2 times more than the imports in the same months of record-breaking 2022.
The imports peak around the New Year holidays. Georgia imports 36% of its annual avocado imports in the last quarter of the year. Imports in the first three quarters are 20-23% of annual import volume, EastFruit reports.
