Turkey-Cyprus trade: is it increasing?

Turkish Cypriot newspaper Havadis reported on Monday that Turkey’s exports to the southern part of Cyprus rose by 400% in the first three months of the year to USD 2.7 mln, from USD 666,000 in the same period of 2011.
Exports to northern Cyprus reached USD 229.5 mln in the same period.
Havadis said that the goods for the Greek Cypriot south arrive via Athens and are mainly health equipment, furniture, home appliances and construction materials.
Turkey and the (Greek Cypriot) Republic of Cyprus do not have any diplomatic relations.
The Republic of Cyprus Statistical Service has produced foreign data only for January this year, therefore it is difficult to cross-check if figures produced in the south confirm the Turkish data.
However, the January data conflict with the trend. They show that there was a drop in imports from Turkey of 57% to EUR 550,000 in January 2012, from EUR 1,282,000 (EUR 1.28 mln) in January 2011.
For the whole of 2011, imports from Turkey declined by 38.8% to EUR 9.05 mln, from EUR 14.78 mln in 2010.
Exports to Turkey fell to EUR 252,000 in 2011 from EUR 593,000 in 2010.
If there was indeed an increase in exports from Turkey to the southern part of Cyprus in January-March, therefore, it represents a turnaround from recent trends. It might even be an indication that demand in the economy is improving.
Meanwhile, sales from Turkish Cypriots to Greek Cypriots over the Green Line reached EUR 5.9 mln (excluding electricity) in 2011, the same level as in 2010.
Most of the products sold to Greek Cypriots are non-labelled goods such as building materials, as Greek Cypriots remain reluctant to put Turkish Cypriot labelled products on their shelves, even though Turkish-labelled products are sold.
Fiona Mullen
www.sapientaeconomics.com