Georgia’s wine exports fell 0.6% in the first nine months of 2026

Georgia’s wine exports edged down in the first nine months of 2026, with Russia remaining by far the main foreign market for the country’s shipments.

Preliminary data published Monday by Geostat, Georgia’s national statistics office, show that exports of wine of fresh grapes totaled $188.73 million from January through September. That was down from $189.878 million in the same period of 2025, a decline of $1.147 million, or 0.6%.

Russia accounted for $119.791 million of that total, equal to about 63.5% of the value of Georgia’s worldwide wine exports in the period. Exports to Russia were nearly flat in value compared with a year earlier, slipping from $120.171 million to $119.791 million, a drop of $0.380 million, or 0.32%.

The change was sharper in volume than in value. Geostat’s figures show that the weight of wine shipments sent from Georgia to Russia fell to 40,998.9 tons in January-September 2026 from 43,405.2 tons a year earlier. That was a decrease of 2,406.3 tons, or 5.54%.

The gap between the small decline in export value and the larger fall in tonnage indicates that the average value per ton of wine sent to Russia increased during the period. Based on the Geostat figures, that average rose by about 5.53% from a year earlier. The measure does not by itself show whether the change came from higher prices, a different mix of products, or other factors, and the values are reported in nominal U.S. dollars.

The data highlight the degree to which Georgia, a wine-exporting country in the South Caucasus, remains dependent on the Russian market for this product. Nearly two-thirds of the export value in the category came from one destination even as total exports to the world slipped slightly.

Geostat, formally the National Statistics Office of Georgia, is the autonomous public agency that produces the country’s official statistics. It is based in Tbilisi. The figures were published in its latest foreign trade report covering January through September 2026, with the wine export data appearing in the report’s trade tables. The agency marked the figures as provisional.

The export category in the report refers to wine of fresh grapes. Geostat reports both the value of exports in U.S. dollars and the physical weight in tons. The tonnage data cited for Russia refer to weight, not liters, which means the figures should not be read as a direct measure of bottled volume sold in retail markets.

Compared with the first nine months of 2025, Georgia’s overall wine export earnings were broadly stable. The worldwide decline of 0.6% was modest, and the reduction in sales to Russia in dollar terms was even smaller at 0.32%. But the heavier drop in tonnage to Russia suggests that less product was shipped there while the average value of each ton exported increased.

The concentration of trade in Russia stands out in the numbers. Of the $188.73 million Georgia earned from wine exports worldwide in the first nine months of 2026, $119.791 million came from the Russian market alone. That left all other destinations combined accounting for roughly 36.5% of export value in the category during the period.

Because the figures are preliminary, they may be revised in later releases. Still, the report offers an early picture of one of Georgia’s most visible export industries at a time when the Russian market continues to dominate sales even as shipment volumes move lower.