Georgia has decided to cut wine exports to Russia and reduce the country's share of total foreign shipments to 40 percent within five years, Business Media Georgia reports, citing the chairman of the National Wine Agency, Levan Mekhuzla.

"Last year, wine exports to the United States increased by 16 percent. This year we are working with a very good marketing company, and I think the increase in exports to this market will become more noticeable. In general, we are working very hard in other markets, the UK, Germany. Of course, the Eastern European countries, I mean Poland and the Baltic States, are also standing out. We think that in about five years the share of Russia in wine export will fall below 40 percent," Mekhuzla said.

In the first half of 2022, Russia remained Georgia's top wine buyer, accounting for 58 percent of exports. Suppliers sold 28 million bottles to the country, up eight percent from a year earlier, the republic's National Wine Agency reported.

Earlier, however, Russia's share of Georgian wine exports was even higher - in April, Georgian Agriculture Minister Otar Shamugia said it had dropped from 80 percent to 57 percent. So the state is working to diversify the wine market. Shamugia then promised that the authorities would continue to act in this direction.