Cyprus
Cyprus
Trade
Strategically positioned at the crossroads of major trading routes, Cyprus has long-standing history serving as a trade centre. The island has continued building on its historic legacy as a prominent copper mining and trading centre and today demonstrates diverse expertise in a variety of industrial and service-oriented commercial activities.
Intra-EU trade accounts for more than half of Cyprus’ trade in goods.
Cyprus’ main trading partners are the UK, Greece, Germany, other EU Member States, China and Israel.
Total services exports for 2017 amounted to €9.9 billion whereas domestically produced goods exports amounted to €1.25 billion. The ratio of exports to GDP reached 15.4%.
The top categories of products exported are pharmaceuticals, potatoes, fruit & vegetable juices, citrus fruit, fish, halloumi cheese, mineral fuels and meat.
Trade Relations with Israel
Trade relations between Cyprus and Israel are at an all-time high. Israel is currently ranked as Cyprus’ 5th export partner and has recently started to compete with other countries for 3rd place.
Bilateral trade has been experiencing significant growth, as a result of increased exports from either side on both goods and services. From a total value of 1.15 billion USD in 2017, total bilateral trade has surpassed 1.66 billion USD in 2018.
Cyprus is one of the countries for which Israel registered the largest increase of exports of goods in 2018, compared to 2017.
Having formed stable, long-standing valued trade partnerships, Cyprus has been primarily exporting fish, cement and gypsum products to the Israeli market.
Conversely, the primary export of Israel to Cyprus concerns petroleum products, amounting to more than 86% of the total exports of Israel to Cyprus (2017).
In recent years, a significant interest in boosting exports of industrial and consumer goods has been identified in the Cypriot business community.
Since its re-establishment in December 2017, CTC Tel Aviv has recorded a rapid growth in the number of requests for assistance from Cypriot businesses interested to export products and provide services to the Israeli market.
Israeli interest in the Cypriot services industry has also been experiencing growth, with tourism, hospitality, real estate and professional services (legal, financial and other) being in the lead.
