Cyprus's banking crisis has hit the country's fruit and vegetable traders hard, according to a report in Euronews, with one stallholder stating that sales were down by around 50 per cent, a result of shoppers buying merely the basics, predominantly potatoes.
Rodis Hadjiandreou, sales manager at Nicosia-based potato producer Roha Premium Potato, said that 500-metre-long queues could be seen stretching out of the country's banks, which had opened after ten days of closure.
'They are waiting to try and get their money,' he told Eurofruit, 'and they are angry. The people of this island are dedicated to their work – they shouldn't have to pay for this situation.'
According to Hadjiandreou, the current crisis has not affected his business so far. Cyprus's potato season is progressing well, he said, with good volumes and quality and good demand. However, he foresaw cashflow issues in the future.
'Being an island, we rely on shipping lines to export our potatoes,' he said. 'Since the banks have been closed, shipping lines from countries like the UK, China and Israel are warning that in around a week's time they are only going to be accepting cash. Up until now, they have been accepting cheques.
'This is going to make payments difficult. We can still make bank-to-bank transfers, but the banks can't give us more than €5,000 a day in cash. They are trying to assist us as much as they can.'
Savvas Savva of exporter Sedigep revealed that the biggest problems were being faced by the country's importers.
'Exporting is not so much of an issue, so Sedigep has not been affected, except for the inconvenience of the last few days,' he said. 'There will be problems for importers though. It will be difficult to get credit from abroad because of the uncertainty surrounding our banks. Foreign suppliers are not accepting cheque guarantees from Cyprus Popular Bank or the Bank of Cyprus.'
