Despite the significant decrease in imports by the United Kingdom as a result of its leaving the European Union, Cypriot exports, mainly dairy products, have remained at the same levels, said the deputy secretary-general of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce, Leonidas Paschalidis, in an online conference organized by Financial Media Way.

As explained at the conference, the problem with imports is the issue of documenting the origin of a product in order to avoid the imposition of import duties under the UK-EU trade agreement. Cypriot exports do not face any such problems as the origin is documented. At the same time, Cypriot importers seem to have replaced imports from the UK with imports from other European countries, such as the Netherlands and Italy.

“Based on the latest data, until the end of September 2021, we had observed a 43% decrease in imports on an annual basis,” said Paschalidis, noting that imports in January-September 2021 fell to 246 million euros, from €431 million in 2019.

He added exports have remained at about the same level: “I do not think exports were affected because they mainly concern dairy products (such as halloumi), fruit, vegetables and pharmaceuticals.”