CYPRUS: Trade deficit narrows further as exports continue to rise

The trade deficit widened further in the first quarter of the year, after two consecutive months of relative stability in imports and increase in exports, according to the statistical service Cystat.

Total imports/arrivals in January-March amounted to €1,156.4 mln as compared to €1,152.8 mln in January-March 2014. Total exports/dispatches in January-March were €519.2 mln compared to €355.5 mln in the first quarter of 2014.
As a result, the trade deficit narrowed to €637.2 mln in January-March this year compared to €797.3 mln in the corresponding period of 2014.
Leading the list of imports was ‘mineral products’ with €293.1 mln followed by ‘chemical or other industrial products’ with €138.2 mln, and ‘foodstuffs, beverages, and tobacco’ with €136.7 mln.
The European Union continued to be the main source of supply of goods to Cyprus accounting for 73% mainly from Greece, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Bulgaria. Imports from the rest of the world were dominated by Israel, China and India.
The biggest category of exports was ‘vehicles, aircraft, vessels and transport equipment’, followed by mineral and chemical products, suggesting these are re-exports, as Cyprus does not have a manufacturing or chemical sector, apart from cement.
The traditional categories of ‘live animals and animal products’, ‘foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco’ and ‘vegetable products’ only accounted for 7%, 5% and 4% of exports, respectively.
For the month of March alone, imports were unchanged year-on-year, at €424.8 mln, while exports were up to €156.0 mln in March 2015 compared with €138.1 mln in March 2014.
The trend follows the January-February two-month period when the trade deficit narrowed by just over a quarter from a year earlier to €368.6 mln from €510.6 mln, with imports marginally up, but exports leaping about 60%, probably due to the re-export of liquid fuels from the Vitol-owned VTTV storage facility in Vassiliko that started work in December 2014.