Georgia: The export of both fish body oil and fish meal from Georgia has increased by 85% and 58%, respectively, according to the reports published by Research Centre PMCG.
The document reads that the average cost of export for fish meal varied between USD 1.3/kg and USD 1.6/kg from 2015-to 2021, while in the case of fish body oils, the corresponding range fluctuated between USD 1.5/kg to USD 1.9/kg.
The fish meal cost reported a negligible drop (with a negative CAGR of 1.9%), while the price of fish body oils, on average, increased throughout the 2015-2021 period (with a CAGR of 2.9%).
Moreover, the cost of fish body oils grew gradually, making a high of USD 1.9/kg in 2018, followed by a significant 13.1% YoY decline in 2019 and relative stabilization during 2020-2021. It must also be noted that the inflated price of fish body oils did not negatively impact the export volumes.
The research centre PMCG also reports that part of this growth in 2020 could be attributed to the Enterprise Georgia (EG) program designed to stimulate the marine fishing sector.
The largest recipient of fish meal exports from Georgia is Turkey, among partner countries. In particular, Turkey’s share reached 63.7% of total exports during the period. Armenia followed Turkey with 14.1% of total exports, and then Taiwan (12%) and Vietnam (4.8%). The share of EU countries (Greece and Italy) in total amounted to just 1.7% of fish meal exports over this period. Similar to the situation for fish meal, the top export destination for Georgian fish body oils was Turkey, with 67% of total exports for the 2015-2021 period, followed by Peru (28%) and Canada (3%).
In 2017, the EU included Georgia in a list of 3rd countries allowed to export products of fish to the EU market, which represents a significant development and opportunity for the sector.
