Cyprus’s appetite for low-cost online shopping has produced an unexpectedly large return for the state, with the new €3 customs duty generating almost €2 million in July alone. During the first month of the measure, Customs processed 650,000 chargeable items contained in 160,000 parcels, according to customs department spokesman George Constantinou, speaking to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA). At €3 for each chargeable item category, the figures point to revenue of approximately €1.95m, equivalent to an average customs charge of just over €12 per parcel. According to official EU figures, almost 5.9 billion low-value items entered the bloc in 2025, up 26 per cent in a year. Their average declared value was just €8.82, yet they represented nearly 98 per cent of all imported items handled by EU customs authorities.