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Size Class

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Large exporting enterprises were the most reliant on markets abroad with an export intensity of 85.5% in 2017

201520162017
Micro55.26061.1
Small49.759.256.1
Medium60.954.962.8
SMEs56.157.560.6
Large83.883.585.5

 

  • Large enterprises had the highest export intensity with 85.5% of their €294.6 billion turnover in 2017 coming from exports.
  • SMEs made up the vast majority of exporters with 10,239 enterprises in 2017. This represented 97.4% of all exporting enterprises.
  • The combined turnover for SMEs in 2017 was over €141.1 billion of which 60.6% was accounted for by exports. This was an increase from 57.5% in 2016 and 56.1% in 2015. See Figure 4.1 and Table 4.1.
X-axis labelNot very reliantSlightly reliantReliantVery reliant
Micro44.320.810.724.3
Small53.218.110.618.1
Medium3921.614.125.3
Large25.615.518.140.8

Large enterprises were the most reliant on exports in 2017

  • Large exporting enterprises were the most reliant size class on exports with nearly 60% of the 277 large exporting enterprises either reliant (export intensity 50%<75%) or very reliant (75% and over) on exports for turnover in 2017.
  • Small enterprises were the least reliant size class in 2017 with over 70% of the 2,080 exporters either not very reliant (5%< 5%) or slightly reliant (25%<50%) on exports.
  • Most exporters were micro enterprises. Of the 7,313 micro exporting enterprises, 1,774 had an export intensity greater than 75%. This represented the highest number of enterprises of any size class in 2017.
  • There were 376 small enterprises and 214 medium enterprises which had an export intensity of greater than 75% in 2017. See Figure 4.2 and Table 4.2.
Turnover from non-exportsTurnover from exports - GoodsTurnover from exports - Services
201548.67135.51326.599
201651.19941.17627.985
201755.65743.99141.497

There were 10,239 exporting SMEs in 2017

  • Exporting SMEs had a combined turnover of €141.1 billion in 2017 of which 60.6% was attributed to exports.
  • Exports of Goods accounted for just over half (51.5%) of all exports.
  • There were 154,345 persons engaged in exporting SMEs in 2017. See Figure 4.3 and Table 4.3.
201520162017
UK17.716.115.7
Rest of EU2424.624.7
US12.316.117.8
Rest of World20.12022.9

The UK was the destination with the highest number of exporting SMEs in 2017

  • There were 10,239 exporting SMEs in Ireland in 2017, 8,432 of which exported to the UK, the most of any destination.
  • The turnover associated with SMEs who exported to the UK was €117.1 billion. 
  • These enterprises attributed 15.7% of their turnover to UK exports.
  • 5,372 SMEs exported to the rest of EU member states of which 24.7% of these enterprises’ turnover came from exports to these member states, the highest export intensity by destination.
  • Export intensity to the UK declined from 17.7% in 2015 to 15.7% in 2017.
  • This is in contrast with the corresponding values for export intensity to the United States which increased from 12.3% to 17.8% over the same period. See Figure 4.4 and Table 4.4.
Table 4.1 Export intensity by size class, 2015 - 2017

Table 4.2 Exporting enterprises by reliance on exports and size class, 2017

Table 4.3 Sources of turnover for exporting SMEs, 2015 - 2017

Table 4.4 SME export intensity by destination, 2015 - 2017

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