Tag Archives: business

Value of Georgian wine exports rises 20%

JAN. 4 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia earned 20% more from wine exports, an important part of both its economy and national identity, in 2018 than in 2017, the Georgian National wine Agency said. Russia was once again the top importer of Georgian wine, followed by Ukraine and then China. Georgia earned $203m from wine exports in 2018. The total volume of exports increased by 13%. Georgian wine experts have said that China will become its biggest wine foreign wine market over the next decade.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Car sales in Kazakhstan rise

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DEC. 27 (The Conway Bulletin) — Car sales in Kazakhstan increased by 25.7% between January and November in 2018 compared to the same period in 2018, industry groups said. The data is more evidence that Kazakh consumers are gaining confidence after an economic downturn in 2015-17 triggered by a collapse in oil prices and recession in Russia. Of the 52, 467 cars sold during this period, nearly half were built in Kazakhstan.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Oil shipments drop at Batumi

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JAN. 3 (The Conway Bulletin) — Oil shipments from the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi fell by 51.2% in 2018, Reuters reported by quoting an unnamed official at the terminal which is operated by Kazakh oil and gas company Kazmunaigas. Azerbaijan’s decision to push oil shipments through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which it part-owns and a volume increase for the Caspian Pipeline Consortium from Kazakhstan to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, are the main drivers of the drop-off at Batumi.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Uzbekistan hopes for bumper investments in 2019

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DEC. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan hopes to attract $4.1b of investment in 2019, up by 71% from 2018, Shukhrat Vafayev, the deputy chairman of the State Investment Committee, told media. Mr Vafayev said that changes to the Uzbek tax regime since President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over as leader in 2016, where one of the main reasons for the optimism. Alongside tourism and industry which are attracting major headlines, Mr Vafayev said that “another promising area is the processing of agricultural products and food production.”
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Tele2 says it is going to quit Kazakhstan

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ALMATY/DEC. 28 (The Conway Bulletin) — A fortnight after Swedish-Finnish telecoms company Telia exited Kazakhstan, its Stockholm-based rival Tele2 said it was also going to sell its stake in Altel, its joint-venture with Kazakhtelecom.

Tele2 said an option in its joint-venture agreement with state-owned Kazakhtelecom allowed it to sell its 49% stake in Altel and that it expected the deal to be concluded in six months.

“The transaction between Kazakhtelecom, Telia Company and Fintur announced on Dec. 12, in which Kazakhtelecom acquires control of Kcell, triggers the possibility for Tele2 to exercise its put option and sell its shares in the JV to Kazakhtelecom, as the JV agreement includes customary non-compete clauses,” Tele2 said in a statement.

“To initiate this process, Tele2 has today filed a put option notice to Kazakhtelecom.” Tele2’s exit means there will be no major involvement by Western companies in the Kazakh telecoms sector.

Telia, and Fintur its Netherlands-registered JV with Turkcell, had been keen to quit Central Asia since a corruption scandal centred on its Uzbek operations earned it a fine of $1b in 2017 but Tele2 had given no indication that it wanted to quit too. Tele2 had merged its Kazakh operations, which it set up in 2010, with Altel in March 2016.
In October, Tele2 CEO Allison Kirkby had said in Q3 results that Altel “continues its tremendous journey”.

Industry website telecompaper.com said the decision to sell was linked to Tele2’s strategy to concentrate on markets in Europe.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Kazakh energy minister calls for oil prices to be stabilised

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DEC. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh energy minister Kanat Bozumayev said that he expected OPEC and other major oil exporters to work to stabilise oil prices at the start of this year after they dropped away steeply at the end of 2018 mainly because of oversupply. Oil is one of Kazakhstan’s main exports but it is not big enough to be a price-maker and instead has to follow the bigger energy producers’ lead and act as a price-taker.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Carlsberg expands production site in Kazakhstan

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JAN. 8 (The Conway Bulletin) — Danish brewer Carlsberg increased its capacity at its plant in Kazakhstan by 20% in 2018, Victor Semak, head of Carlsberg in Kazakhstan, told the Trend news agency. The beer market, for on-trend craft ale and also for mainstream larger, in Central Asia and the South Caucasus has been growing. Mr Semak said that Carlsberg had a 41.2% share of the Kazakh beer market.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Georgia Healthcare moves into dental clinics

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JAN. 8 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Georgia Healthcare said that it had set up dentist studios at various clinics it operates (Dec. 28). Georgia Healthcare is targeting clients from within Georgia, where the state health service is considered poor, and also potential clients from across the Middle East. Private healthcare has become increasingly big business in the region, with Istanbul as its focus.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

Alcohol ban imposed in Turkmenistan

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JAN. 1 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan imposed strict new alcohol laws on Jan. 1 that will outlaw alcoholic drinks on public transport and in sports centres. The sale of alcohol will also be banned altogether on national holidays. One characteristic of Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s tenure as Turkmen president has been his emphasis on health edicts. He wants to ban smoking by 2025 and from 2021 restaurants and bars will be banned from selling alcohol at the weekend.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019

TBC Bank under investigation

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TBILISI/JAN. 9 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed TBC Bank, Georgia’s largest retail bank, said that the Georgian Central Bank had investigated transactions between two of its units in 2007 and 2008.

The transactions involved TBC Bank’s chairman Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, the deputy chairman, TBC Bank said in its statement without detailing the allegations.

“The National Bank of Georgia has issued a fine of about 1m lari ($375,000) and, at this stage, it is unclear whether NBG will seek to impose additional sanctions,” TBC Bank said in a statement.

“TBC has already challenged this fine in the courts in Georgia and the court has issued an injunction suspending payment of the fine.”

It also added that the Georgian Prosecutor-General had opened an investigation linked to the transactions.

TBC Bank has said that it denies the unnamed allegations.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019