Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Goods and Services

Open in Excel:

Trade balance of €5.1bn in Q1 2020

Ireland’s trade balance at €5.1bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, decreased by €25.8bn in the first quarter of 2020 over the same period in 2019, due to a decreased services balance.

Goodsof which International Trade
Q4 201753.62330.535
Q1 201851.3933.837
Q2 201853.69835.564
Q3 201853.77334.09
Q4 201857.44637.135
Q1 201957.14538.018
Q2 201954.97138.562
Q3 201957.03437.458
Q4 201957.97238.783
Q1 202059.45242.339

Merchandise exports were €59.5bn in the first quarter of 2020, an increase of €2.3bn compared with the same quarter of 2019.

Goodsof which International Trade
Q4 201722.921.03
Q1 201822.33119.49
Q2 201824.89421.245
Q3 201825.55322.304
Q4 201830.56825.572
Q1 201924.99419.803
Q2 201926.81421.313
Q3 201923.82619.5
Q4 201928.71923.623
Q1 202025.04321.183

Merchandise imports were €25bn in the first quarter of 2020, an increase of €49m compared with the same period in 2019.

Q1 2020Q1 2019
Computer Services29.0924.463
Business Services11.18710.802
Financial Services3.6873.845
Insurance2.6562.531
Royalties/Licences1.9672.04
Transport1.0851.15
Repairs and Processing0.6410.488
Tourism and Travel0.5690.774
Other Services n.e.s0.5640.303
Communications0.0710.088

Service exports, at €51.5bn, increased by €5bn compared to the first quarter of 2019, mainly due to higher computer services exports.

Q1 2020Q1 2019
Business Services51.23318.103
Royalties/Licences18.56418.798
Financial Services3.6313.452
Insurance2.3612.211
Repairs and Processing1.6011.561
Computer Services1.1991.091
Tourism and Travel1.1951.403
Transport0.7480.767
Other Services n.e.s0.2160.181
Communications0.0590.14

Service imports, at €80.8bn, were up €33.1bn compared to the first quarter of 2019, mainly due to higher intellectual property imports.

Royalties/Licences Exportsof which Pharmaceuticalof which Information and Communication
Q4 20172.8721.069
Q1 20182.540.0321.111
Q2 20183.2990.0161.407
Q3 20183.0250.0181.01
Q4 20182.9130.0180.607
Q1 20192.040.0170.355
Q2 20192.560.0140.468
Q3 20192.5990.0150.398
Q4 20192.7160.0140.332
Q1 20201.9670.0131.036

Please note: The Q4 2017 figure for royalties/licences of which pharmaceutical exports is suppressed due to confidentiality requirements.

Royalties/Licences Importsof which Pharmaceuticalof which Information and Communication
Q4 201717.8694.16310.05
Q1 201816.4583.5458.858
Q2 201817.944.1529.768
Q3 201818.0763.65610.234
Q4 201819.7064.01611.748
Q1 201918.7983.87711.105
Q2 201920.5915.19511.671
Q3 201921.4544.723
Q4 201924.0524.686
Q1 202018.5642.884

Please note: The Q3 2019, Q4 2019 and Q12020 figures for royalties/licences imports of which information and communication are suppressed due to confidentiality requirements.

Royalties/licences imports were €18.6bn in the first quarter of 2020, a decrease of €234m compared with the same period in 2019.

Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports


Next Chapter >> Accounts with the UK