The Georgian government plans to regulate the price of pesticides and agrochemicals after submitting a draft law “On Pesticides and Agrochemicals” to Parliament.
The bill, initiated by the government and prepared by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, aims to address price instability and cases of high costs on the local market. The Competition and Consumer Protection Agency monitoring data cited in the explanatory note shows that pesticide and agrochemical prices in some cases exceeded 100%.
If adopted, the state will gain the authority to set pricing rules and determine maximum retail prices for relevant products, affecting importers, distributors and sellers.
Under the proposed model, importers would be required to purchase pesticides directly from manufacturers or official representatives, limiting parallel imports through intermediaries. They would also have to submit detailed information on invoice prices, packaging, volume and batch value to relevant authorities.
The government could introduce annual maximum retail prices based on product groupings, including country of origin and technical characteristics such as active substances, formulation and packaging type. Pricing would be calculated using weighted average wholesale and retail prices from the previous year, as well as import invoice prices.
The explanatory note states that the mechanism is intended to prevent “unfair pricing” and reduce the number of intermediaries in the supply chain, while ensuring “reasonable prices” on the market.
Implementation would be overseen by the National Food Agency under the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture.
Penalties for violations would include a warning for first-time offences, a 5,000 GEL fine for repeated breaches, and 30,000 GEL fines for third and further violations within 12 months.
The document also notes that pesticide costs account for 20–50% of agricultural production expenses, depending on the crop, and argues that price stability would improve productivity and competitiveness of locally produced agricultural goods.
The government is expected to approve detailed rules for price regulation by September 1, 2026.
The authors of the initiative point to international examples, including permanent regulatory systems in India, Egypt and China, as well as temporary measures used in several European and Latin American countries.
