The Prime Minister of Georgia spoke about the grape harvest at the Executive Government Meeting today, noting that state subsidies will be continued this year as well under the Government Decree to ease the condition of households in the post-pandemic phase and 1 kg of Rkatsiteli grape will be valued at least 0.90 GEL.

“In recent years, horticulture and viticulture have been developing as a result of proper policies pursued by the State. New vineyards have been grown and I wish to let our population know that about 6400 hectares of new vineyards have been built in the last 8 years. It is the outcome of our prudent policies. As a comparison, let me say that when we were coming to power in 2012 there were 39 wineries in the country. In 2020 their number has reached 350. It includes wine cellars, along with small, medium to large winemakers. Overall, Kakheti generated 35 million GEL from winemaking back in 2012, while earning 323 million GEL in 2020. Kakheti has thus generated 323 000 000 GEL solely from grapes. It is a realistic result, which we are talking about and the difference is witnessed by population through their household income.

As for the grape processing, output in 2012 was 52 000 tons of grapes, while 283 000 tons in 2020.

Such difference, such progress has been achieved in this field. It is the outcome of our prudent measures, which we are witnessing currently and it is reflected on the welfare of our population. Nevertheless, we understand it well and Levan Davitashvili has assessed the current situation in the country - we expect a surplus harvest of grapes this year. Around 300 000 tons will be harvested and to our knowledge demand will decline on white grapes from the winemakers due to the surplus supply experienced in previous years as well. They may find it hard to warehouse and sell the crop and for this very reason, as well as by taking into consideration the condition experienced by our population in the post-pandemic period, we decided to subsidize the harvest this year again.

1 kg of Rkatsiteli will be valued at least 0.90 GEL. Companies will get from the State 0.35 GEL out of this amount, i.e. in real sense the population will receive this supplement and price per kilo of grape will be at least 0.90 GEL in total”, - concluded Irakli Garibashvili.