Levan Davitashvili met the representatives of viticulture and wine-making field
In the hotel Radisson, meeting about the statement of Georgian wine-making field and discussion of the achieved results of the recent years was organized by association “Georgian Wine”. The meeting was attended by the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia, Levan Davitashvili, the director of the Agency of Management of Agricultural Projects, Marina Morgoshia, the head of National Wine Agency, Giorgi Samanishvili and representatives of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Georgia, association “Georgian Wine” and wine-maker companies.
At the meeting, the members spoke about the importance of the projects executed for Georgian viticulture and wine-making progress by the state in the recent years. The Minister of Agriculture Levan Davitashvili made a long speech about the projects executed by the state for Georgian agricultural progress, mentioned the point of proclaiming the priority of development of the field and underlined the projects executed for viticulture and wine-making progress.
As the minister noted, with the initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Agency of Management of Agricultural Projects has started execution of projects for agricultural field and viticulture and wine-making progress support (lax agricultural credits, agricultural insurance, co-financing project) since 2013. As a result, 23 new wine and alcohol enterprises were developed and 47 were updated or expanded. It\'s remarkable, that since 2013, 153 new factories have been established and 700 – updated or expanded. New vineyards were cultivated on over 1500 h of land. Within the project, wine and alcohol maker companies received 173mil GEL and 22mil USD worth of lax agricultural credit for grape purchase. The absolute majority of the credits mentioned above were given in Kakheti region.
Levan Davitashvili also mentioned, that in 2013, private sector was stimulated by state subsidy and different agricultural loans, in order to give the farmers and manufacturers opportunity to get and reprocess as more grapes as possible for output expansion. The minister also spoke about the importance of export market diversification, and mentioned, that for Georgian wine export market diversification purpose, popularization and publicity progress of Georgian wine on the international market became the main priority for the state within the last 4 years. As Levan Davitashvili stated, with the support of National Wine Agency, Georgian wine-maker companies had the opportunity to take part in hundreds of international wine exhibitions, conferences, competitions and degustations worldwide.
As the minister explains, as a result of these activities, Georgian wine export has significantly grown as in the countries of European Union, as in China, Japan, USA, UK and etc. According to the data of September 2016, 32 421 418 bottles of wine have been exported to 50 countries around the world, that is 35% higher, than the similar data of the last year. In the period under review 74,6 million USD worth of wine have been exported, that is 12% higher than the similar data of the last year. The first five of exporter countries is the fallowing: Russia (17 056 936), China (3 852 245), Ukraine(3 457 028), Kazakhstan (2 535 163) and Poland (1 633 514). In addition, 6 016 653 (0.5l) bottles of brand have been exported to 16 countries of the world, that is 34% higher, than the similar data of 2015.
Totally, 13,6 mil USD worth of brand has been exported, growth compared with the similar data of the last year amounts 15%. Levan Davitashvili also spoke about the development of viticulturist cadastre, communication with the viticulturists, development of wine tourism in Georgia and simultaneously with the achieved results, he spoke about the new challenges.
As the minister stated, the state and the representatives of the field have the joint work to do in the field. At the meeting, representatives of wine companies spoke about the importance of active communication and collaboration between the state and private sector for the effective progress of the field.