Tatyana Gracheva

According to the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) quoted by Ukrainian media on Tuesday, exports of goods from Ukraine decreased by 7% in June 2024 year-on-year to its all-time low of $2.77 billion since the beginning of this year.
IER’s foreign trade monitoring showed a drop of exports of agricultural products by 2% to $1.60 billion and a 12% increase of exports of specific products. Different exports developed in different ways. For example, corn exports rose by 21%, while wheat and oil exports fell by 32% and 5%, respectively.
A slump by more than 9% to $355 million year-on-year was demonstrated by exports of metallurgy products in June. As the IER said, higher energy costs and a change in the structure of exports probably caused this problem: the decline of exports of pig iron and certain types of rolled products was accompanied by the rise of exports of semi-finished and other products.
Meanwhile, a 33% surge was shown by exports of mineral products, especially iron ore, but they couldn’t surpass the results reached in January-April 2024.
According to the IER, the volume of iron ore exports in tonnes rose by 87% in June, though it was lower than in January-April 2024, due to the resumption of exports from the Odessa ports.
The increase of exports of mineral products reached only 33%.
Almost no changes were recorded concerning imports in June compared to May, but they grew up by12% year-on-year and attained $5.63 billion.
In specific sectors the rise of imports of machinery and equipment in June 2024 attained nearly 20% year-on-year (especially imports of drones, batteries, and generators), while lower import prices caused a slight fall of imports of vehicles in dollar terms.
Higher imports of coke and coal caused by the needs of the metallurgical industry, where steelmaking was ramped up, led to a soar by 16% year-on-year of imports of energy products.
It was accompanied by a drop of imports of chemical products and food products.
Imports of “other goods” (primarily purchased for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces) grew up, which caused the import of as much as $752 million worth of goods under this category into Ukraine, compared to $400 million in the previous months of the year.
The IER reports the rise of imports of the electricity from $6 million in June 2023 to $78 million in June 2024, as well as batteries from $18 million a year earlier to $68 million in June 2024 due to the shortage of electric power.
NH Logistics UKR has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Ukraine and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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According to US State Department report on the investment environment in Georgia in 2024, Georgia favorably compares to regional peers and overall business and investment conditions are sound, but there is a continued lack of confidence in the judicial sector’s ability to adjudicate commercial cases independently or in a timely, competent manner, with some business dispute cases languishing in the court system for years.
Georgia’s economic growth rate was on average over five percent from 2005 through 2023 despite the shock from the COVID pandemic. Tourism revenues, a surge in immigration and financial inflows, and a rise in transit trade through Georgia made the country’s economy increase in 2021 by 10.4 percent and outperform expectations in 2022 with 10.2 percent growth. A return to more traditional economic drivers (tourism, increasing exports, and strong foreign capital inflows) made the economy grow by 7.5 percent and inflation drop to 0.4 in 2023. Georgia’s GDP growth is forecasted between five and seven percent in 2024.
Nevertheless, there are such problems as inefficient decision-making processes at the municipal level, lack of effective anti-trust policies, accusations of political meddling, selective enforcement of laws and regulations, including commercial laws, and difficulties resolving disputes over property rights.
Georgia is eligible to export many products duty-free to the United States under the Generalized System of Preferences program according to a Bilateral Investment Treaty signed in 1994.
Increased east-west trade along the Middle Corridor has made transit and logistics priority sectors due to a significant profit they can bring to Georgia. Recent increases in cargo through the Middle Corridor connecting Europe to Central Asian markets, as well as strategic infrastructure investments and regional cooperation have made the expanding Central Asian market the source of long-term growth for Georgia. A new tender for the development of the Anaklia port, a deep seaport whose original tender was canceled in 2020, was announced by the Georgian government In February 2023. The international tender for the design and construction of Anaklia port’s marine infrastructure was announced by the government in March 2024. According to the report, plans to build a new Tbilisi International Airport were announced by the government in April 2024.
NH Logistics GEO has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Georgia and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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