95 percent of Georgia’s filbert crops are exported to Iraq and Iran. Georgian filbert manufactures noted that the global economic crisis had shifted the Georgian filbert exports geography and Iraq and Iran had become key export markets.
“These two markets are characterized by certain peculiarities. The European market requested for processed filbert, while Iraqi and Iranian markets demand for unprocessed filbert”, Mikheil Khomeriki, a GN company representative, told GBC.
Georgian filbert will remain in high demand until April, but then the market demand will considerably fall as the Moslem World celebrates the Bayram festivity in the period, he added.
At this stage, the price of one kilogram of unprocessed filbert makes up USD 4-4.10.
Filbert is leader in exports of Georgia’s agricultural food products with 24.3 percent share, according to the 2009 data. Georgia exported filbert worth USD 69.3m in 2009, while the figure equaled USD 31.731m in 2008.