2020 Cyprus Country Report

Manufacturing & Industry
Sector Profile
Nicosia offices and factory, producing vitamin
pre-mixes and pharmaceuticals for animal nutrition
for export, particularly to the Middle East
and Europe. Founded in 1978 and owned and
operated by two families, it has won funding in
cooperation with several British universities for
the EU’s largest-ever research programme on
animal nutrition.
HOMEGROWN SUCCESS STORIES
Quality and affordability are the hallmarks of
Cypriot-made pharmaceuticals, which are sold in
over 100 countries across the globe. The industry
is led by Medochemie Ltd and Remedica Ltd,
which invest heavily in research and innovation
and spend significantly on continuously upskilling
their workforces.
A prime example of the sector’s significant potential
for growth and foreign investment was the
€260 million acquisition of Remedica by South
Africa’s Ascendis Health Ltd in 2016. The South
African corporation wanted a strategic platform
within the EU for expansion and growth
in the generic pharmaceutical industry in both
European and emerging markets. The alliance
has given Remedica the funding to embark on a
new phase of development and the benefit of synergies
with Ascendis.
Medochemie, founded in 1976, develops,
manufactures and distributes mostly generic
pharmaceuticals and invests up to 7% of its turnover
in research and innovation. The company has
13 state-of-the-art manufacturing sites, of which
nine are in Cyprus, one in the Netherlands and
three in Vietnam. Its Cyprus factory can produce
and pack 1.5 billion tablets and 300 million capsules
per year. The company has expanded from
its Cyprus base into promising markets across
the world – to the Middle East and Africa, Far
East and the Americas – and now operates in 107
countries. Cyprus’ ideal location enables these
two award-winning companies to distribute their
products to markets in the region and far beyond.
Their products bear ‘made in the EU’ labels – a
badge of quality that assures consumers that what
they are buying has met rigorous testing standards.
Another major manufacturer and one of
Cyprus’ biggest exporters is Vassiliko Cement
Works, which boasts Europe’s largest single
clinker production line and operates its own
eponymous port. The company has an annual
capacity of two million tons of cement, more
than twice the island’s domestic needs. Its international
customers are mostly Cyprus’ neighbours
in the Eastern Mediterranean. Vassiliko
has a variety of programmes to keep training and
upgrading the skills of its 340-strong workforce,
and a ‘talent academy’ that trains unemployed
graduates for six months to a year, some of
whom enter the workforce when vacancies arise.
The company has embraced renewable energy
sources as part of operations, which garnered it
a ‘Gold Environmental Protector Award’ in 2019
and a special honorary best performance distinction,
and the Global CemFuels ‘Outstanding
Alternative Fuels Project’ award in 2020. The
company also launched an 8 MWp photovoltaic
park in 2020.
Cyprus has a 4,500-year-old history of copper
mining, and today’s production methods are of
the highest standard. Substantial investment
in research, innovation and the latest mining
technology has enabled Hellenic Copper Mines
(HCM) to commercially exploit ores depleted
by millennia of extraction. HCM set a European
first in 1996 by introducing hydrometallurgy,
a cost-effective and environmentally friendly
way of exploiting low-grade ores, and it is a
pioneer in bio-leaching. The high price of gold
has also made it worthwhile for HCM to begin
processing ores bearing the precious metal that
it amassed while mining copper and to extract
new ones, along with silver-bearing ores. HCM
employs just under 100 people, nearly a third of
them university graduates, and some 50 contractors
daily, providing welcome employment
in the rural Solea district and contributing to
the rehabilitation of remote areas. HCM exports
100% of its production to European destinations
and its copper is classified among the top
copper metal producers worldwide in terms
of its purity (99.999% cu). Although currently
the only operating mining company in Cyprus,
some exploration companies are active because
the island remains rich in low-grade mineral
wealth. The mining of metals accounts for about
5% of Cyprus’ industrial exports, a figure which
would be far higher if industrial minerals and
cement were included.
Given the island’s small domestic market,
manufacturers have adopted an international
outlook to achieve growth. A good example of
this is Elysée, an award-winning Nicosia-based
company that designs and develops irrigation
and piping systems that are sold in 65 countries
from Europe and the Middle East to South Africa,
Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Equally ambitious
is Limassol-based Muskita Aluminium
Industries Ltd, which designs and manufactures
aluminium products and systems that are used
across the globe in sectors ranging from aviation
to agriculture. With 350 highly trained staff,
the over 60-year old company was a forerunner
in the European aluminium industry and holds
many design patents and pioneered the use of robotics
in Cypriot industry, both in its warehous-
Manufacturing
accounts for 5.4%
of Cyprus’ GDP
Industry
accounts for 8.3%
of Cyprus’ GDP
6%
of the workforce
employed in
manufacturing
and industry
Quality and
affordability
are the hallmarks of Cypriotmade
pharmaceuticals,
which are sold in over 100
countries across the globe.
Main destination for
Cypriot manufactured
exports: European Union
over 50% of the market,
Middle East 15%
114 Country Report CYPRUS 2020