The amount of goods sold southwards over the Green Line fell by over €1 million last year compared to 2024, according to statistics published on Tuesday by the Turkish Cypriot chamber of commerce.

In total, €13.9m worth of goods was sold southwards last year, compared to €15.1m the year before, constituting a fall of eight per cent.

Construction materials in particular saw a significant drop in terms of sales, with a 32-per-cent reduction in the value of construction materials being sold southwards recorded last year compared to 2024.

A little over €1.5m worth of construction materials were sold southwards over the Green Line last year, with more than €2.2m having been sold the year before.

One major contributing factor to this was a rapid decline in the quantity of aluminium products being sold southwards across the Green Line. In 2024, over €662,000 worth of aluminium products, including aluminium window frames, doors, and similar such items were sold. Last year, that figure fell to just €40,795.

Similarly, the sale of electrical cables and panels fell by almost 80 per cent, from more than €257,000 in 2024 to a little over €52,000 last year.

Meanwhile, the export of fruit and vegetables across the Green Line all but collapsed last year, with a 97-per-cent drop in the value of goods sold southwards across the Green Line.

In 2024, almost €850,000 worth of fruit and vegetables were sold southwards across the Green Line. That figure fell to €27,840 last year, and saw the value of citrus fruits fall from more than half a million euros’ worth of various varieties to just €3,780 worth of lemons.

Of non-citrus fruit and vegetable exports, the majority was made up of cherry tomatoes, of which €18,630 were sold, though this figure was a little over a third of the more than the figure of €46,000 in 2024, while €3,005 worth of strawberries and €875 worth of watermelons headed south.

The year prior, the value of watermelons sold southwards across the Green Line had amounted to more than €30,000.

Additionally, the value of fresh fish exports fell by over 10 per cent, from over €800,000 in 2024 to just shy of €720,000 last year.

In better news for the Turkish Cypriot market, however, the value of portacabins sold southwards across the Green Line rose from €3.3m in 2024 to almost €4.3m last year.

Additionally, the value of plastic bread bags more than doubled from a little over €46,000 in 2024 to over €103,000 last year, while the value of scrap iron moving south rose from just over €103,000 in 2024 to almost €358,000 last year.

Portacabins accounted for 31 per cent of products moved south across the Green Line, while wood furniture, despite a 13-per-cent drop compared to 2024, constituted the second-largest sector, at 19 per cent.

The third-largest sector was plastic products, which, at just shy of €2.2m, made up 16 per cent of the total amount.