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Cyprus Trade Sector Achieves Robust Growth In 2023 Amid Pricing Pressures

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

July 11, 2025

Strong Overall Expansion

The Cyprus trade sector demonstrated notable resilience and growth in 2023, as evidenced by the latest wholesale and retail trade survey released by the state statistical service. Total turnover increased by 5.7 percent, rising to €19.34 billion from €18.31 billion in the previous year, demonstrating the sector’s ability to maintain momentum despite external challenges.

Differentiated Divisional Performance

At the divisional level, the most dynamic performance was observed in wholesale and retail trade combined with the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, which experienced a striking 25.4 percent increase in turnover, totaling €1.53 billion. While wholesale trade itself registered a modest rise of 0.7 percent to €9.83 billion, the retail segment outperformed expectations with a robust 9.0 percent growth, reaching €7.98 billion in turnover.

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Furthermore, production value across the broader trade sector increased by 2.7 percent, reaching €5.41 billion. However, in a landscape impacted by volatile fuel pricing, value added at current prices experienced a slight contraction of 2.2 percent, falling from €3.49 billion to €3.42 billion, reflecting the nuanced challenges within the market.

Value Added and Employment Trends

Breaking down the value added, the combined wholesale and retail trade alongside vehicle repair saw a robust 19.3 percent surge to €314.30 million, while wholesale trade alone registered a significant decline of 13.4 percent, dropping to €1.75 billion. Conversely, retail trade demonstrated recovery and strength with an 11.6 percent increase in value added, rising to €1.36 billion.

Employment within the sector also showed positive momentum, expanding by 2.1 percent to 77,500 employees in 2023. Notably, the distribution of jobs reflected a balanced structure across the contributing segments, with 9,600 positions in wholesale and retail trade combined with motor vehicle repair, 26,500 in wholesale trade, and 41,400 in retail trade.

Methodological Insights

This comprehensive survey, encompassing 2,285 enterprises, defines turnover as the total income from ordinary business operations after accounting for discounts and rebates. Production value is determined by the sum of other income and stock variations added to turnover, less the cost of goods purchased for resale, while value added is computed by subtracting production, administrative, and rental expenses from production value. Employment figures encapsulate both salaried workers and the self-employed.

Conclusion

The insights from the 2023 survey underline Cyprus’s ability to navigate market pressures and achieve growth. The nuanced performance across divisions highlights both opportunities and challenges in an evolving economic landscape, emphasizing the importance of strategic adjustments as key trends continue to evolve in the trade sector.

The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties

by News Editor

August 24, 2026

Courts Are Still Applying Old Copyright Rules To AI

AI companies train models on enormous amounts of published material, including books, articles and academic research. Whether using that content without authors’ permission violates copyright law remains unresolved.

Much of the debate centres on fair use, which allows copyrighted material to be used without permission in certain circumstances. Courts consider factors such as the purpose of the use, how much material was involved and its impact on the original market.

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Anthropic Case Sets An Important Precedent

A major case involving Anthropic and a group of authors provided one of the clearest rulings so far. Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train AI models was lawful, comparing the process to people reading and studying literature before creating something new.

Anthropic was nevertheless ordered to pay $1.5 billion in a settlement. The penalty concerned books the company had obtained from illegal online libraries rather than the AI training itself.

For AI companies, that distinction could prove significant because it separates studying copyrighted material from directly copying it.

Competition Could Be The Key Issue

A case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence offers a different perspective. A court ruled that Ross could not claim fair use after using Reuters’ copyrighted material to develop a competing AI-powered legal research platform.

The decision suggests courts may be less willing to consider AI training fair use when copyrighted content is used to build a product that directly competes with the original.

For authors, an unresolved question is whether AI-generated content should be considered competition for the works used to train these models.

The Law Has Yet To Catch Up

US copyright law predates generative AI by decades, leaving courts to apply old principles to new technology. Questions also remain over copyright protection for AI-generated works. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, a court ruled that material created entirely by AI cannot receive copyright protection.

Major AI companies remain involved in copyright litigation, and different courts could reach different conclusions. For now, there is no universal rule: the legality of AI training will depend on the circumstances of each case and how courts ultimately interpret copyright and fair use.