Kommersant: deliveries of cars from Georgia to Russia tripled

Georgia more than tripled passenger car exports to Russia in early 2023, informed Kommersant with reference to the country’s customs statistics.

In January-February of this year, deliveries to the Russian Federation amounted to 978 cars worth $13.5 million – in the same period last year, Georgia delivered only 209 cars. Georgia also increased exports to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – Kazakhstan (2,600 cars for $51.5 million compared to 935 in 2022), Armenia (2,800 cars for almost $50.2 million versus 365) and Kyrgyzstan (1,300 cars for $43 .2 million against 423).

About 8,200 cars worth $97 million from the United States were imported into Georgia itself, which is less than the volume in 2022, which then amounted to 11,000 cars. During the same period, 1,300 cars worth $29.2 million were delivered from Germany, which is about 330 units less than last year. At the same time, it is unclear whether it refers to the supply of new or used cars.

After the start of a special operation in Ukraine, the export of cars worth more than 50,000 euros from the European Union and passenger cars from the United States was banned to Russia. According to Nation.ge analyst David Avalishvili, the growth in car re-exports to Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan “is probably due to the fact that cars are sent from there to Russia.” He noted that cars of a low price category (ie below 50,000 euros) are sent to the Russian Federation, which are not subject to Western sanctions.

Formerly Director of the wholesale car sales department of the group “Avilon» Gratsin Belenova told “Vedomosti” that the import of cars for parallel imports is carried out by the auto dealer group “Avilon“. Most supplies come from China, she said.

“We conclude a cooperation deal with car dealers, we accept orders from them to import certain models. Then we buy these cars and transfer them to dealerships. We import only as a legal entity, which makes the purchase more profitable for both dealers and end customers,” Belenova said at the time.