According to preliminary data from the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), the decline in production is due to an unusually abundant harvest in 2024, while favorable weather in 2025 allowed the country to maintain production close to the high level of recent years.Regional trendsResults in the Northern Hemisphere (outside the European Union) are mixed.Russian wine production is around 5.1 million hectoliters, which is at the same level as in 2024 and 9% above the five-year average. Moldova, after droughts and frosts in 2024, showed an 18% increase in production (1.4 million hectolitres), driven by abundant spring rainfall.Production in the European Union is 140 million hectolitres, up 2.1 million hectolitres (+2%) compared to 2024, but 8% below the five-year average. Italy (47.4 million hectolitres) has regained its position as the world’s largest producer, while France (35.9 million hectolitres) and Spain (29.4 million hectolitres) are experiencing historically low yields due to climate stress, drought and disease.Global outlookGlobal wine production is forecast to reach 232 million hectolitres in 2025. This is 3% higher than the historical low of 2024, but still 7% below the average of the last five years.USA: Production increased to 21.7 million tons (+3%), but still below the historical peak.Southern Hemisphere: Production increased by 7% (49 million tons). Australia (11.6 million tons) and New Zealand (3.7 million tons) showed increases, while Chile’s production decreased by 10% due to water shortages.Market balanceAccording to the OIV, production has been below average for the third consecutive year, reducing pressure on stocks amid falling global demand. Climate change remains a major factor determining global production levels.

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For comparison, hydropower supplied 93% of total supply on average in April from 2021-24. This year, late warming delayed snowmelt, causing water levels to rise only in late April, while in previous years high hydropower generation was recorded from early April. As a result, April saw an unusually high demand for thermal power (16.5% of total supply) and imports (4.3% of total supply).In April, 3 power plants were commissioned: 2 hydropower plants were launched in test mode - Chiora HPP and Bakhvi 2B HPP, with a total installed capacity of up to 40 MW; and the 18.7 MW “Upper Wind Station” was put into operation.In April 2026, electricity imports amounted to 51 GWh (4.3% of total supply), although only half of this was commercial imports, 24.8 GWh from Turkey. Of the remaining volume, 9 GWh came from Russia for the Abkhazian region, while the 17 GWh import from Azerbaijan was fully balanced by exports of the same volume and value to Azerbaijan in the same day slot. The identical volumes of imports and exports indicate that these transactions were not commercial trade and were related to the technical needs of synchronous operation.Imports from Turkey were carried out on April 16-22, during the shutdown period of thermal power plants. Its value was $0.7 million, and the average price was 2.9 US cents per kWh. It is noteworthy that in 2026, except for February, imports from Turkey were carried out in all months, which is associated with historically low prices on the Turkish market. The price decrease, in turn, was associated with increased renewable generation due to favorable climatic conditions.As for the average price of balancing electricity, it decreased by 5% year-on-year in April and amounted to 5.8 US cents per kWh.In addition, the balancing capacity increased by 21.7% and was 0.4 TWh, which accounts for 32.6% of the total supply.

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Galt & Taggart analysts note that this once again demonstrates the vulnerability caused by dependence on hydropower and the need for accelerated development of new generation sources.In the first four months of 2026, electricity consumption increased by 6.6% year-on-year to 5.1 TWh. According to Galt & Taggart, the increase is associated with a particularly cold winter and the activation of the ferroalloys sectors.In the first four months of 2026, the share of thermal generation and imports in total supply amounted to 44.3%, which exceeds the similar indicator of the previous year (39.2%). The increase was mainly associated with weak hydrology in April and low water levels in the Enguri reservoir at the beginning of the year.In addition, Turkey was among the main sources of imports for 3 out of 4 months of 2026, which indicates increased competition in imports and possible structural changes.Overall, the high share of imports and thermal generation once again emphasizes the need for accelerated development of new generation.Domestic consumption was 1.1 TWh in April 2026, up 2.1% year-on-year. This growth was driven by retail customers (+5.1% y/y) and Abkhazia (+7.3% y/y). Direct customer consumption decreased by 8.5% year-on-year, mainly due to lower activity in crypto mining and data center companies.

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According to Government Decree No. 945, the funds will be used to co-finance projects funded by donor organizations. These include the 500-kilovolt power transmission lines (PTLs) “Tskaltubo-Akhaltsikhe-Tortumi” and “Jvari-Tskaltubo”, “Northern Ring” (Namakhvani-Tskaltubo-Lajanuri), “Kheledula-Lajanuri-Oni”, as well as projects to strengthen the power transmission infrastructure of Guria and Kakheti.According to GSE, the 500 kV Jvari-Tskaltubo overhead line project is being implemented by the Turkish company Bozlar Yapi. Work on the project began in 2021 and is scheduled for completion in 4Q27. As for the 220 kV Khledula-Lajanuri and Oni-Lajanuri power transmission lines, a €25.6 million contract has been signed with India’s KEC International Limited for their construction, and the works are scheduled to be completed in January 2029.The aforementioned infrastructure works are being implemented within the framework of the “Large-scale Investment Program for the Improvement of the Electricity Network” (ENIP), which is being implemented in partnership with the European Union, GSE, and the German Development Bank (KfW).The total budget of the program is €270 million, which includes funding from the German government (through KfW) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), as well as a grant of $9.9 million from the European Union Neighborhood Investment Platform (EU NIP).The program, which began in 2021 and will be completed in 2028, includes the construction and expansion of 7 substations and more than 540 kilometers of power transmission lines in the regions of Imereti, Guria, Racha, Svaneti and Kakheti.

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In the I quarter of 2026, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, the ports and terminals of Georgia received 23.0 percent less liquid bulk, 8.7 percent less – specialized carriers, 8.4 percent less general cargo carriers, 6.1 percent less – container ships, and 5.0 percent less – dry bulk.In the I quarter of 2026, 18.2 percent of the ships arriving at the ports and terminals of Georgia sailed under the flag of Panama, 13.7 percent – under the flag of Turkey, 10.0 percent – under the flag of Liberia, 7.5 percent – under the flag of Malta, and the rest of 50.6 percent were distributed among other countries.In the I quarter of 2026, Georgian seaports served 3.2 thousand passengers, which is 53.6 percen more compared to the corresponding figure of the previous year. Note, the share of passengers departed was higher than the share of passengers entered and stood at 55.3 percent.In the I quarter of 2026, ports and terminals of Georgia processed 4 316.9 thousand tons of cargo, 19.7 percent more compared to the corresponding figure of the previous year. 49.1 percent of freight carried was general cargo, 30.4 percent was liquid bulk, and 20.4 percent – dry bulk.

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In the same period, the prices for manufactured products increased by 0.7 percent, contributing 0.54 percentage points to the monthly index change.Within the group, a noteworthy price increase was registered for chemicals and chemical products (8.4 percent) and coke and refined petroleum products (7.9 percent). Besides, the prices increased for electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning by 1.1 percent, contributing 0.11 percentage points to the monthly index change.The annual PPI rate was mainly affected by price changes for the following products: Mining and quarrying: the prices were 27.6 percent higher, contributing 1.8 percentage points to the overall annual index change. Within the group, the prices were higher for the subgroup of metal ores (34.3 percent); Manufactured products: the prices increased by 5.3 percent, contributing 4.28 percentage points to the overall annual index increase. There was a notable increase in the prices for food products (6.3 percent) and beverages (5.6 percent); Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: the annual price increase amounted to 3.7 percent, which contributed 0.39 percentage points to the annual index change; Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation services: the annual price increase amounted to 6.8 percent, which contributed 0.21 percentage points to the annual index growth.

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In the I quarter of 2026, scheduled flights carried 93.6 percent of passengers in airports of Georgia.In the I quarter of 2026, the number of passenger flights from Georgian airports increased by 20.8 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and amounted to 7.3 thousands.In the I quarter of 2026, in airports of Georgia the volume of freight and mail amounted to 10.3 thousand tons, of which 92.1 percent was arrived freight and post, and 7.9 percent was departured.In the I quarter of 2026, 0.9 thousand freight flights were carried out in the airports of Georgia and that is 6.2 percent more than the same figure of 2025.In the I quarter 2026, airway companies of Georgia transported 190.7 thousand passengers and 30.5 thousand tons of freight. Compared to the corresponding period of the previous year the number of passengers increased by 57.7 percent and freight decreased by 18.1 persent.

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In the I quarter of 2026, incoming freight represented 75.0 percent of the railway-transported freight, while the share of outgoing freight was 25 percent.In the I quarter of 2026, the sender country of 40.6 percent of total incoming rail freight was Russian Federation, 20.8 percent was sent by Azerbaijan. The share of other countries sending cargo was less than ten percent each (38.7 percent combined).In the I quarter of 2026, Kazakhstan was the final destination for 9.8 percent of total outgoing freight, for 8.9 percent it was Armenia, for 8.6 percent – Russian Federation. The share of other individual receiving countries was relatively small (72.7 percent combined).In the I quarter of 2026, the breakdown of the total transit freight1 by the final destination country was as follows: the China – 7.6 percent, Turkey – 7.5 percent, the Netherlands – 4.4 percent, Ukraine – 2.8 percent, Italy – 1.4 percent, Romania – 1.0 percent, and elsewhere was for the rest.In the same period, Brazil was the sender country of 5.3 percent of the total transit freight, Turkey – 3.0 percent and other countries sent the rest. In the reporting period, 33.4 percent of the total freight were coke and refined petroleum products, 23.9 percent were chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers; rubber and plastic products, and 12.3 percent were metal ores and other mining and quarrying products.The distribution by type of goods was different in case of freights transported domestically in the I quarter of 2026, as the share of metal ores and other mining and quarrying products equaled 63.2 percent of total, and the share of coke and refined petroleum products amounted to 17.8 percent; while the share of transport equipment amounted to 13.7 percent.As for the freights transported internationally, in the reporting period, incoming goods were mainly coke and refined petroleum products (52.7 percent), other nonmetallic mineral products (12.9 percent), metal ores and other mining and quarrying products (10.5 percent), coal and lignite; crude petroleum and natural gas (6.9 percent), products of agriculture, hunting, and forestry (3.8 percent), chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers (3.7 percent) and basic metals (3.6 percent); while outgoing goods were mainly chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers (38.5 percent), food products, beverages and tobacco (25.7 percent), basic metals (12.7 percent) and metal ores and other mining and quarrying products (12.6 percent). In the I quarter of 2026, three type of goods, namely chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibers (34.6 percent), coke and refined petroleum products (31.6 percent) and food products, beverages and tobacco (10.0 percent) constituted for 76.2 percent of the total volume of transit freight.In the I quarter of 2026, the number of passengers transported by the Georgian Railway decreased by 13.5 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year and amounted to 301.8 thousand persons. At the same time, passenger turnover decreased by 13.8 percent and amounted to 68.3 million passenger-kilometer.In the I quarter of 2026, the number of passengers transported within the country amounted to 298.0 thousand persons, which represents 98.7 percent of the total number of passengers carried and is 13.8 percent less than the same figure of 2025. At the same time, the number of passengers transported internationally amounted to 3.8 thousand, which is 26.1 percent more than the corresponding figure of the previous year. The country of embarkation was Armenia for 73.1 percent of internationally transported passengers, while the country of disembarkation was Armenia for 26.9 percent (no passengers were transported from/to any other neighboring country in the I quarter of 2026).

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In January-April 2026, the share of the ten largest export partner countries in Georgia's total exports amounted to 72.1%. The top three exporters were as follows: Kyrgyzstan ($272.8 million) China ($255.1 million) Azerbaijan ($211.3 million) In January-April 2026, the share of the ten largest import partner countries in Georgia's total imports amounted to 70.5%. The top three include: Turkey ($903.1 million) Russia ($766.3 million) China ($678.2 million) According to Geostat, in January-April 2026, the share of the ten largest trading partner countries in Georgia's total foreign trade turnover amounted to 66.7%. The country's largest trading partners are: Turkey ($1.09 billion) Russia ($965.7 million) China ($933.3 million) In January-April 2026, among the top ten export commodity groups, passenger cars took first place with $537.4 million, which accounts for 22% of all exports. Second place is taken by oil and petroleum products with $324.1 million (13.3% of all exports), and third place is taken by precious metal ores and concentrates with $225.1 million (9.2%).The largest import commodity group in January-April 2026 was passenger cars, the imports of which amounted to $925.9 million and 16.3% of all imports. Second place is taken by petroleum and petroleum products with $471.3 million (8.3% of imports), and third place is taken by petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons with $254.1 million (4.5% of imports).

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In January-April 2026, the share of the ten largest countries in Georgia's total domestic exports amounted to 69%. In this regard, the largest export partners are:• China - $247.5 million• Russia - $182.7 million• Turkey - $177 millionIn January-April 2026, the top ten domestic exports were represented by oil and petroleum products with $313.2 million, the share of this commodity group is 20.2% of total domestic exports. Precious metal ores and concentrates are in second place with $225.1 million (14.5% of total domestic exports), and ferroalloys are in third place with $94.6 million (6.1% of total domestic exports).

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