Exporting Enterprises in Ireland 2017

• The Services sector had the highest number of exporting enterprises with 5,378 in 2017. Turnover for these enterprises was €164.0 billion of which exports accounted for 89.5%.
• The Distribution sector had 2,222 exporting enterprises who had a collective turnover of €54.6 billion of which exports accounted for 43.3%.
• Industry had 1,990 exporting enterprises in 2017. These enterprises had a turnover value of €214.2 billion of which exports account for 77.5%.
• Both the Services and Industry sectors were the two largest sectors in terms of export intensity. In 2017 the Services sector had an export intensity of 89.5% with the Industry sector having an export intensity of 77.5%. This represented a divergence from 2015 and 2016, when both sectors had an export intensity of around 80%.
• The Construction sector had an export intensity of 19.7% while enterprises classed as "Other" had an export intensity of 35.0% in 2017. See Figure 3.1 and Table 3.1.

The Industry sector was the most reliant on exports in 2017

• The Industry sector was the most reliant on exports in 2017 with over 40% of enterprises either reliant (export intensity 50%<75%) or very reliant (75% and over) on exports for turnover.
• Distribution was the least reliant sector with nearly 80% of their enterprises either not very reliant (5%<25%) or slightly reliant (25%<50%) on exports for turnover.
• Services had the largest number of enterprises very reliant on exports with 1,391. This means that these enterprises had an export intensity of greater than 75%. This was followed by the Industry and Distribution sectors, which had 561 and 315 enterprises respectively who were very reliant on exports.
• Construction had the smallest number of enterprises very reliant on exports with 58 engaged in export activities. See Figure 3.2 and Table 3.2.

For more information on how the Modern and Traditional sectors are defined, please see Background Notes.

Export intensity was higher in the Modern sector for each year between 2015 and 2017

• There were 1,708 exporting enterprises in the Modern sector in 2017. Their turnover was €269.2 billion of which exports accounted for 87.1%.
• There were 8,808 exporting enterprises in the Traditional sector with a turnover of €166.5 billion of which exports accounted for 61.7%.
• The export intensity in the Modern sector was higher than the Traditional sector in each year between 2015 and 2017.
• While the Modern sector remained relatively unchanged, the Traditional sector saw a slight increase from 56.7% in 2015 to 61.7% in 2017. See Figure 3.3 and Table 3.3.

Traditional enterprises were more than twice as reliant on the UK export market in comparison to the Modern sector

• In the Traditional sector, there were 7,304 enterprises that exported to the UK in 2017. Their turnover was €144.5 billion of which 16.7% came from exports to the UK.
• Traditional enterprises were more than twice as reliant on the UK export market in comparison to the Modern sector, which had an export intensity of 8.3%.
• Modern enterprises were more reliant on the Rest of the EU with an export intensity of 28.4%, while the Traditional sector had an export intensity of 22.7%.
• Traditional enterprises were slightly more reliant on the US export market in 2017 with an export intensity of 15.9% compared to an export intensity of 14.9% for exporting enterprises in the Modern sector. See Figure 3.4 and Tables 3.3 and 3.4.