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E-mail: Trade@cso.ie Norita Murphy +353 1 4984295 Damian Malone +353 1 4984206

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information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-5155

CSO statistical release, 13 June 2014, 11am

Goods Exports and Imports

April 2014

Seasonally adjusted
€ million
	Exports	Imports	Surplus
November 2013	6,977	4,489	2,489
December 2013	7,731	4,302	3,428
January 2014	7,175	4,091	3,083
February 2014	7,229	4,061	3,168
March 2014	6,916	4,479	2,437
April 2014	6,871	3,996	2,876

Seasonally adjusted trade surplus up 18% in April

Goods Exports and Imports seasonally adjusted

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Preliminary figures for April 2014 show that seasonally adjusted exports decreased slightly by €45 million (-1%) to €6,871 million from March 2014. Coupled with a decrease in seasonally adjusted imports of €483 million (-11%) to €3,996 million from March, the seasonally adjusted trade surplus increased by €439 million (+18%) (see Table 2).

Comparing April 2014 with April 2013, the value of exports decreased by €367 million (-5%) to €7,106 million. The main drivers were decreases of €372 million (-18%) in the exports of Medical and pharmaceutical products and €138 million (-9%) in Organic chemicals.

On an overall basis the EU accounted for €3,750 million (53%) of total exports in April 2014. The USA was the main non-EU destination accounting for 24% (€1,738 million) of total exports in April 2014.

Comparing April 2014 with April 2013, the value of imports rose marginally by €14 million to €4,253 million. Imports of Other transport equipment (including aircraft) increased by €105 million (+172%).

The EU accounted for 61% of the value of imports in April 2014, with 29% coming from Great Britain. The USA (13%) and China (6%) were the main non-EU sources of imports.

Show Table 1 Goods Exports and Imports summary analysis

Table 1 Goods Exports and Imports summary analysis
Period		Value			Volume index¹		Unit value index¹
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		€m	€m	€m	Exports	Imports	Exports	Imports	Terms of trade²
		€m	€m	€m	Exports	Imports	Exports	Imports	Terms of trade²
1990		18,204	15,832	2,372	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
1991		19,070	16,317	2,753	105.6	100.8	99.3	102.3	97.0
1992		21,260	16,754	4,506	121.1	105.6	96.6	100.2	96.4
1993		25,179	18,900	6,279	133.4	113.0	103.9	105.4	98.6
1994		28,891	21,945	6,946	153.2	127.9	103.8	108.1	96.0
1995		35,330	26,181	9,149	184.0	146.3	105.7	112.7	93.7
1996		38,609	28,479	10,130	202.2	160.9	105.1	111.4	94.3
1997		44,868	32,863	12,004	232.4	184.8	106.3	112.0	94.9
1998		57,322	39,715	17,607	289.2	218.3	109.1	114.6	95.2
1999		66,956	44,327	22,629	336.5	236.5	109.5	118.0	92.8
2000		83,889	55,909	27,980	401.4	275.2	115.0	128.0	89.9
2001		92,690	57,384	35,306	422.0	274.2	120.9	131.8	91.7
2002		93,675	55,628	38,047	435.1	276.6	118.5	126.7	93.5
2003		82,076	47,865	34,212	418.4	259.7	108.0	116.1	93.0
2004		84,410	51,105	33,304	446.5	283.6	104.0	113.5	91.7
2005		86,732	57,465	29,267	456.7	316.3	104.5	114.4	91.3
2006		86,772	60,857	25,915	458.0	325.2	104.4	117.7	88.7
2007		89,226	63,486	25,741	481.8	340.9	101.9	117.3	86.9
2008		86,394	57,585	28,810	484.5	300.5	98.0	119.7	81.9
2009		85,804	45,061	40,742	468.4	249.2	98.9	113.9	86.8
2010		89,703	45,764	43,940	485.5	241.3	101.2	119.2	84.9
2011		91,228	48,302	42,925	507.9	240.8	99.7	126.4	78.8
2012		91,688	49,151	42,538	479.1	231.9	105.8	133.7	79.2
2013		86,954	49,920	37,033	460.6	238.8	103.9	131.6	78.9

2012	January	7,678	4,466	3,212	483.9	251.4	104.7	134.2	78.0
	February	7,402	3,957	3,445	470.5	224.9	103.9	133.0	78.1
	March	8,628	4,987	3,640	548.1	286.5	103.9	131.7	78.9
	April	7,073	3,741	3,332	449.8	210.5	103.8	134.3	77.3
	May	7,631	4,066	3,564	479.3	231.8	105.2	132.5	79.4
	June	8,065	3,980	4,085	492.8	225.1	107.8	133.0	81.0
	July	7,808	3,799	4,009	482.2	212.9	107.1	134.5	79.7
	August	8,376	3,865	4,511	508.3	214.6	108.8	135.7	80.1
	September	7,464	4,204	3,260	465.4	242.5	106.8	134.9	79.2
	October	7,470	4,328	3,142	471.4	245.6	106.0	134.3	78.9
	November	8,317	4,042	4,275	524.5	224.0	105.2	133.6	78.8
	December	5,778	3,717	2,061	372.3	211.5	106.8	132.2	80.8
2013³	January	6,729	4,442	2,287	419.9	251.3	105.8	133.6	79.2
	February	6,619	3,913	2,706	424.1	222.4	103.1	133.0	77.5
	March	8,086	4,138	3,948	505.8	237.1	105.6	131.9	80.1
	April	7,473	4,239	3,234	462.8	239.0	106.6	134.0	79.6
	May	7,218	3,949	3,268	452.1	228.4	105.4	130.7	80.7
	June	7,341	4,036	3,306	463.1	230.6	104.7	132.3	79.2
	July	7,601	4,021	3,580	482.7	225.1	104.0	135.0	77.0
	August	6,981	3,977	3,003	442.6	232.8	104.0	129.3	80.4
	September	7,354	4,037	3,318	467.0	227.3	104.0	134.2	77.5
	October	7,296	4,415	2,881	468.5	251.3	102.8	132.8	77.5
	November	7,674	4,393	3,281	489.2	251.7	103.6	131.9	78.6
	December	6,583	4,361	2,222	419.5	249.2	103.2	131.7	78.3
2014³	January	6,990	4,498	2,492	449.6	255.0	102.7	133.3	77.0
	February	6,784	4,060	2,724	427.7	229.1	104.8	133.9	78.2
	March	7,500	4,752	2,749	491.8	272.6	101.5	133.4	76.1
	April⁴	7,106	4,253	2,853	470.0	250.3	101.1	131.6	76.8
¹Monthly data have been rescaled to make their average equal to the annual.
²Export unit value index divided by Import unit value index.
³Revised, see background notes.
⁴April 2014 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.

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Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2014 Table 1 (XLS 15KB)

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Show Table 2 Goods Exports and Imports seasonally adjusted series

Table 2 Goods Exports and Imports seasonally adjusted¹series
Period		Value			Volume index
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		€m	€m	€m	Exports	Imports
2011	January	7,289	4,495	2,795	485.9	263.6
	February	8,051	4,322	3,729	535.5	251.8
	March	7,626	3,820	3,806	520.7	222.1
	April	7,577	4,919	2,658	495.4	289.2
	May	7,568	3,724	3,844	503.9	227.2
	June	7,840	3,833	4,007	537.2	228.2
	July	7,023	3,805	3,217	470.7	228.9
	August	7,784	3,986	3,798	524.5	240.5
	September	7,799	3,827	3,973	531.2	231.9
	October	7,461	3,861	3,601	501.9	233.9
	November	8,095	3,806	4,289	541.9	219.5
	December	7,113	4,129	2,984	488.7	239.5
2012	January	8,302	4,506	3,796	516.1	253.4
	February	7,286	3,730	3,557	462.3	214.8
	March	7,739	4,623	3,116	498.5	260.9
	April	7,029	3,584	3,445	443.4	202.3
	May	7,528	4,119	3,409	472.2	229.7
	June	7,471	4,012	3,459	459.5	228.3
	July	7,833	4,003	3,829	485.9	225.1
	August	9,188	4,215	4,973	561.3	232.0
	September	7,299	4,479	2,820	457.5	261.2
	October	7,492	4,216	3,276	465.4	238.1
	November	8,033	3,851	4,182	498.6	216.0
	December	6,539	3,801	2,738	430.2	218.5
2013	January	6,791	3,978	2,813	423.4	236.5
	February	6,976	3,898	3,078	444.0	222.9
	March	7,414	3,806	3,609	459.7	217.4
	April	7,351	4,062	3,288	457.4	230.4
	May	7,086	4,027	3,060	446.0	230.0
	June	7,131	4,229	2,902	453.3	240.2
	July	7,333	4,245	3,088	469.8	234.8
	August	7,671	4,482	3,190	488.7	257.0
	September	7,318	4,114	3,204	466.1	233.6
	October	7,342	4,372	2,970	464.2	242.7
	November	6,977	4,489	2,489	442.7	256.6
	December	7,731	4,302	3,428	493.2	247.2
2014	January	7,175	4,091	3,083	464.4	235.5
	February	7,229	4,061	3,168	450.7	232.2
	March	6,916	4,479	2,437	451.2	256.6
	April	6,871	3,996	2,876	460.2	238.0
¹Based on seasonal patterns up to December 2013. Accordingly all values in this table may have been revised.

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Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2014 Table 2 (XLS 13KB)

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Show Table 3 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity

Table 3 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity¹
										€million
SITC (Rev 4)			Exports				Imports
			Exports				Imports
			Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr	Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr
			2013	2014	2013	2014	2013	2014	2013	2014
0	Food and live animals		682	764	2,621	2,904	496	501	1,978	1,989
	00	Live animals other than animals of Division 03	17	22	66	85	3	5	32	56
	01	Meat and meat preparations	225	254	932	1,023	61	72	253	271
	02	Dairy products and birds' eggs	142	146	486	535	44	72	198	263
	03	Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and preparations thereof	40	43	190	198	17	21	72	75
	04	Cereals and cereal preparations	30	34	98	111	89	77	337	309
	05	Vegetables and fruit	19	21	78	81	91	93	338	347
	06	Sugars, sugar preparations and honey	11	9	42	36	30	29	127	111
	07	Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices and manufactures thereof	34	37	129	138	30	31	129	138
	08	Feeding stuff for animals (excl. unmilled cereals)	22	19	88	80	96	65	355	276
	09	Miscellaneous edible products and preparations	142	179	511	616	37	38	136	143
1	Beverages and tobacco		84	81	344	318	64	62	225	228
	11	Beverages	78	76	318	298	57	56	195	201
	12	Tobacco and tobacco manufactures	7	5	26	20	8	6	29	27
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels		141	149	579	576	62	58	229	238
	21	Hides, skins and furskins, raw	9	13	44	54	0	0	0	0
	22	Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits	0	0	1	1	3	3	10	9
	23	Crude rubber (incl. synthetic and reclaimed)	0	1	1	2	1	1	5	5
	24	Cork and wood	10	11	39	45	10	8	32	37
	25	Pulp and waste paper	5	4	18	18	5	4	16	17
	26	Textile fibres and their wastes	11	12	47	44	1	2	6	6
	27	Crude fertilisers and minerals (excl. coal, petroleum and precious stones)	13	15	47	54	11	11	37	38
	28	Metalliferous ores and metal scrap	85	85	346	324	15	14	61	64
	29	Crude animal and vegetable materials nes	8	8	36	35	14	15	61	61
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials		99	114	265	318	591	514	2,383	2,347
	32	Coal, coke and briquettes	10	12	31	35	10	24	77	66
	33	Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials	87	100	228	274	434	393	1,718	1,768
	34	Gas, natural and manufactured	1	2	3	8	146	91	584	475
	35	Electric current	0	0	3	1	1	5	4	38
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes		4	5	20	20	21	19	80	67
	41	Animal oils and fats	3	4	16	16	1	1	4	4
	42	Fixed vegetable fats and oils	1	1	3	2	18	16	67	57
	43	Animal or vegetable fats and oils, processed; waxes	0	0	1	1	2	2	9	6
5	Chemicals and related products		4,511	4,058	17,304	16,586	1,138	937	3,833	4,034
	51	Organic chemicals	1,538	1,400	6,414	6,215	273	207	923	1,219
	52	Inorganic chemicals	19	13	72	49	21	16	73	63
	53	Dyeing, tanning and colouring materials	15	10	66	37	16	16	62	60
	54	Medical and pharmaceutical products	2,037	1,665	7,307	6,713	514	385	1,563	1,497
	55	Essential oils; perfume materials; toilet and cleansing preparations	567	641	2,153	2,297	86	90	336	339
	56	Fertilisers (other than those of Division 27)	0	0	1	1	68	58	224	200
	57	Plastics in primary forms	23	24	114	105	72	67	271	267
	58	Plastics in non-primary forms	32	34	123	138	38	43	141	162
	59	Chemical materials and products nes	279	271	1,055	1,031	49	55	240	226
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material		131	145	526	607	310	330	1,214	1,326
	61	Leather; leather manufactures nes; dressed furskins	2	2	8	10	1	1	5	6
	62	Rubber manufactures nes	5	7	22	22	23	25	94	97
	63	Cork and wood manufactures (excl. furniture)	18	19	75	77	12	14	50	59
	64	Paper, paperboard and articles thereof	12	13	47	55	64	68	256	268
	65	Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products	10	13	45	50	25	35	106	134
	66	Non-metallic mineral manufactures nes	24	29	82	105	31	30	121	123
	67	Iron and steel	9	10	41	43	46	41	170	189
	68	Non-ferrous metals	4	4	21	22	48	47	164	181
	69	Manufactures of metals nes	47	48	184	223	59	68	247	269
7	Machinery and transport equipment		859	708	3,408	3,037	950	1,153	4,306	4,588
	71	Power generating machinery and equipment	78	42	260	180	64	49	265	251
	72	Machinery specialised for particular industries	41	49	174	183	99	115	341	679
	73	Metalworking machinery	2	2	7	9	6	6	21	25
	74	General industrial machinery and equipment nes and parts nes	94	125	414	513	90	113	347	452
	75	Office machines and automatic data processing machines	319	245	1,320	1,146	237	238	937	916
	76	Telecommunications and sound equipment	45	50	215	195	80	87	321	347
	77	Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances nes and parts	201	135	801	572	152	174	615	670
	78	Road vehicles (incl. air-cushion vehicles)	23	21	81	81	162	205	747	938
	79	Other transport equipment	56	39	134	158	61	166	712	310
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles		865	998	3,503	3,638	437	492	1,800	2,006
	81	Prefab buildings; plumbing and electrical fixtures and fittings	9	11	36	40	11	13	46	58
	82	Furniture and parts thereof; bedding, cushions etc	9	13	37	53	24	28	98	115
	83	Travel goods, handbags and similar containers	1	2	4	5	7	8	32	32
	84	Articles of apparel; clothing accessories	17	20	65	65	107	114	470	469
	85	Footwear	3	3	9	10	22	25	99	99
	87	Professional, scientific and controlling apparatus nes	289	407	1,144	1,450	95	104	349	447
	88	Photographic apparatus; optical goods; watches and clocks	84	87	345	336	17	20	68	83
	89	Miscellaneous manufactured articles nes	452	456	1,862	1,681	153	178	638	703
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere		57	20	175	138	89	92	357	376
Unclassified estimates²			41	63	163	239	81	95	327	364

Total			7,473	7,106	28,907	28,380	4,239	4,253	16,732	17,562
¹April 2014 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
² Estimates for which a commodity classification is not available.

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Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2014 Table 3 (XLS 19KB)

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Show Table 4 Goods Exports and Imports classified by country

Table 4 Goods Exports and Imports classified by country¹
								€million
Country	Exports				Imports
	Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr	Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr
	2013	2014	2013	2014	2013	2014	2013	2014
Austria	43	26	192	103	16	13	62	62
Belgium	923	796	3,542	3,710	87	81	379	356
Bulgaria	5	7	19	21	1	1	5	9
Croatia²	-	3	-	8	-	0	-	1
Cyprus	3	1	11	7	0	0	1	1
Czech Republic	42	40	142	163	22	29	108	134
Denmark	39	44	173	180	31	29	232	122
Estonia	1	2	6	7	1	3	5	6
Finland	23	21	124	101	8	7	32	40
France	345	371	1,361	1,384	207	189	774	759
Germany	665	474	2,552	1,862	324	368	1,401	1,438
Great Britain	1,060	909	4,025	3,778	1,258	1,249	5,152	5,435
Greece	25	40	95	104	1	2	9	10
Hungary	21	16	94	83	8	11	36	38
Italy	213	173	810	708	69	71	291	283
Latvia	3	1	14	7	2	1	8	8
Lithuania	3	3	9	11	14	7	38	23
Luxembourg	4	5	16	22	3	3	16	13
Malta	2	3	8	7	1	0	5	2
Netherlands	305	261	1,214	1,091	287	178	909	817
Northern Ireland	121	124	458	492	86	92	328	350
Poland	59	83	242	300	33	38	121	131
Portugal	30	32	117	117	13	12	45	45
Romania	31	25	122	112	10	8	33	28
Slovakia	6	5	22	19	3	3	17	19
Slovenia	2	3	9	12	1	1	3	17
Spain	281	216	890	823	66	64	273	282
Sweden	69	55	247	218	36	29	135	119
EU Country not specified³	2	12	7	37	93	119	373	458
Total EU	4,325	3,750	16,521	15,488	2,680	2,611	10,789	11,006
of which Euro-Zone⁴	2,871	2,431	10,970	10,085	1,086	998	4,222	4,158

Australia	54	42	229	192	8	7	25	34
Brazil	22	24	96	78	13	12	100	49
Canada	80	72	269	244	20	26	100	89
China	177	189	658	602	215	247	907	994
India	19	18	83	79	39	33	138	136
Japan	105	137	552	605	77	116	315	624
Malaysia	17	18	75	59	16	21	70	76
Mexico	60	112	237	362	27	24	98	90
Norway	23	29	122	105	86	122	412	468
Russia	70	57	216	214	16	22	52	75
Saudi Arabia	68	50	225	199	0	0	27	2
Singapore	54	41	187	189	66	28	137	133
South Africa	23	20	85	114	10	6	26	21
South Korea	29	34	101	124	41	30	147	134
Switzerland	409	390	1,016	1,561	123	42	342	632
Taiwan	15	11	39	48	15	18	60	77
Thailand	7	14	38	49	27	25	118	118
Turkey	42	39	155	156	23	39	95	140
USA	1,514	1,738	6,728	6,675	452	573	1,981	1,886
Other countries	358	319	1,267	1,222	252	201	617	647
Country unknown⁵	1	1	9	13	32	52	176	133

Total	7,473	7,106	28,907	28,380	4,239	4,253	16,732	17,562
¹April 2014 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
²Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013.
³Includes estimates for traders below the Intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified.
⁴Euro-zone members from January 2014: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia, Estonia and Latvia.
⁵Trade for which the country of origin or country of final destination is unknown.

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Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2014 Table 4 (XLS 16KB)

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Show Table 5 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity and principal countries

Table 5 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity and principal countries¹
									€million
		Exports				Imports
	Country by Section level of SITC	Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr	Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr
		2013	2014	2013	2014	2013	2014	2013	2014
Great Britain		1,060	909	4,025	3,778	1,258	1,249	5,152	5,435
0	Food and live animals	260	260	1,021	1,063	178	193	739	790
1	Beverages and tobacco	21	20	80	79	20	24	74	88
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	31	31	117	126	12	12	49	46
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	59	45	186	193	379	319	1,617	1,711
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	1	1	6	6	4	4	15	14
5	Chemicals and related products	417	288	1,484	1,149	163	189	640	692
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	53	61	208	254	122	128	483	528
7	Machinery and transport equipment	122	103	525	507	193	186	776	778
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	77	73	317	296	142	149	574	605
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	20	26	81	105	46	45	184	182
Other EU^2,3		3,265	2,842	12,496	11,710	1,423	1,362	5,637	5,571
0	Food and live animals	263	272	1,013	1,068	214	219	856	833
1	Beverages and tobacco	25	25	102	90	32	28	113	103
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	75	77	314	299	21	18	79	82
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	10	10	49	34	22	27	241	85
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	3	3	10	13	12	11	51	40
5	Chemicals and related products	2,119	1,751	7,919	7,305	513	351	1,667	1,546
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	58	60	230	240	118	128	457	493
7	Machinery and transport equipment	357	299	1,419	1,281	290	342	1,348	1,421
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	330	301	1,337	1,225	87	106	369	454
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	26	43	102	155	113	131	455	515
USA		1,514	1,738	6,728	6,675	452	573	1,981	1,886
0	Food and live animals	8	10	32	47	43	18	131	85
1	Beverages and tobacco	22	22	99	96	1	1	3	5
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	3	1	8	8	3	3	14	13
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	28	59	28	89	0	0	3	23
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	-	0	-	0	0	0	1
5	Chemicals and related products	1,074	1,140	5,049	4,693	213	203	649	667
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	7	8	35	57	24	23	91	96
7	Machinery and transport equipment	82	76	303	326	106	248	846	711
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	288	420	1,161	1,349	57	72	230	272
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	3	3	13	11	4	4	14	14
China⁴		177	189	658	602	215	247	907	994
0	Food and live animals	32	60	109	168	3	4	8	11
1	Beverages and tobacco	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	6	8	31	32	2	3	8	13
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	-	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	0	1	1	-	0	0	0
5	Chemicals and related products	41	57	150	195	16	18	58	68
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	1	2	6	8	17	23	86	103
7	Machinery and transport equipment	77	38	288	122	120	127	456	485
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	20	23	71	76	54	69	279	301
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	0	0	0	0	3	2	12	12
Rest of World		1,457	1,428	4,999	5,615	892	822	3,054	3,676
0	Food and live animals	120	162	446	559	58	67	244	270
1	Beverages and tobacco	16	13	61	51	12	9	34	32
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	26	32	109	111	23	21	79	84
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	1	0	2	1	190	167	522	527
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	-	0	2	1	5	3	14	13
5	Chemicals and related products	860	822	2,702	3,244	233	176	819	1,061
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	12	13	47	48	28	28	96	105
7	Machinery and transport equipment	221	193	873	801	241	251	880	1,194
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	152	180	616	692	97	96	347	374
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	48	12	141	107	5	4	19	17

Total		7,473	7,106	28,907	28,380	4,239	4,253	16,732	17,562
¹ April 2014 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
²Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013.
³Includes estimates for traders below the Intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified.
⁴ China includes Hong Kong and Macao.

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Background Notes

Introduction

Goods Exports and Imports statistics provide data on the movement of goods between countries. The statistics are a combination of Customs-based non-EU trade statistics and data from the Intrastat Survey of Irish traders involved in trade with other EU member states. The collection of trade data is the responsibility of VIMA (a branch of Revenue). The CSO is responsible for processing and disseminating the data.

Revisions

Trade figures are subject to revision on the incorporation of late Intrastat and VAT returns and corrections made by traders. When the preliminary results for a month are published, the results for months -1 (March 2014 in this publication), -4 (December 2013) and -8 (August 2013) are revised.

Intrastat System

The Intrastat system has two components. Firstly, the Intrastat survey (conducted by the Revenue Commissioners), in which traders, above the Intrastat survey trade thresholds, make detailed monthly returns giving information on the quantity and value of all exports to or imports from EU countries.

The total number of traders required to make a detailed import return is around 6,700 while around 1,900 must make a detailed export return. The response rate in terms of number of traders in April 2014 was 70%, covering an estimated 93% of the total value of intra-EU trade (these response rates will have increased by the next time data for April is published).

The second component of the Intrastat system is the regular VAT return, on which all traders are required to record the total value of goods imported from and exported to other EU countries. This information provides the basis for determining total EU trade for those traders below the Intrastat survey thresholds. It is also used to maintain the register of EU traders.

Extrastat System

The statistics of trade with non-EU countries are compiled from the documents supplied by importers and exporters to the Customs authorities. The document is the Single Administrative Document (SAD) used for Customs clearance purposes.

Estimation

The figures in this release include estimates for traders above the Intrastat thresholds who did not make detailed returns for the period and for traders below the thresholds who did not provide aggregate intra-EU trade figures on their VAT returns.

Estimates for Intrastat non-respondents are apportioned to individual commodities and countries whenever previous Intrastat returns are available. Estimates for traders below the Intrastat thresholds are assigned to partner country where possible, but not to commodity.

Imports incorporate an upward adjustment of 1.75% of total imports, which is included in ‘Unclassified estimates’. This special adjustment arises from the difficulty of comprehensively covering all EU imports through the Intrastat survey system. The unclassified category also includes certain miscellaneous adjustments.

More information is now being processed on lower value transactions. Prior to January 2012, transactions below €254 were grouped together, this value has now decreased to €127. Therefore, this has resulted in more detail being available at commodity level in Table 3 and at country level in Tables 4 and 5.

Unit Value Indices

The monthly unit value index measures monthly unit value trends relative to the annual levels in the preceding year using value weights relating to that year’s trade (Laspeyres index).

The annual index is compiled using value weights for both the current and previous year (Fisher index) to allow for change in the structure of trade in goods.

The monthly index series should be regarded as interim measures suitable for month-to-month comparisons within a given year. Previous monthly indices are revised when late returns are received.

When the annual unit value index is compiled, the monthly unit value indices are rescaled to make their average equal to the annual index.

Seasonally Adjusted Series

Monthly exports, imports, trade surplus and the volume series for exports and imports have been seasonally adjusted using the US Bureau of the Census X-11 Variant of the Census Method 11 Seasonal Adjustment Program. In the main, monthly projections are based on series recalculated at the end of the previous year.

Services Exports and Imports

The quarterly Balance of Payments (BOP) statistics provide detail on Services exports and imports.

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Goods Exports and Imports

April 2014

Seasonally adjusted trade surplus up 18% in April

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