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Goods and Services

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Trade balance of €48.6bn in Q1 2021

Ireland’s trade balance at €48.6bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, increased by €72.5bn in the first quarter of 2021 over the same period in 2020, due to a decrease in R&D related IP imports.

Goodsof which International Trade
Q4 201856.06337.071
Q1 201956.59437.577
Q2 201953.36738.54
Q3 201957.1637.629
Q4 201958.82338.789
Q1 202062.52844.206
Q2 202057.03337.848
Q3 202061.34940.54
Q4 202063.89939.3
Q1 202168.82140.454

Merchandise exports were €68.8bn in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of €6.3bn compared with the same quarter of 2020.

Goodsof which International Trade
Q4 201830.56225.929
Q1 201926.04320.98
Q2 201926.23821.286
Q3 201925.91221.21
Q4 201929.63524.01
Q1 202024.87220.894
Q2 202022.75617.714
Q3 202023.45419.659
Q4 202028.77424.755
Q1 202125.16420.583

Merchandise imports were €25.2bn in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of just €0.3bn compared with the same period in 2020.

Q1 2021Q1 2020
Computer Services36.74730.633
Business Services10.29811.681
Financial Services5.4913.936
Insurance3.1452.767
Royalties/Licences2.7612.723
Other Services n.e.s2.8631.479
Transport0.1621.088
Tourism and Travel0.1250.769
Repairs and Processing0.560.609
Communications0.060.071

Service exports, at €62.2bn, increased by €6.5bn compared to the first quarter of 2020, mainly due to higher Computer services exports (which increased by €6.1bn).

Q1 2021Q1 2020
Business Services22.5686.528
Royalties/Licences22.46118.935
Financial Services4.5373.691
Insurance2.4992.479
Repairs and Processing1.9631.53
Computer Services1.6231.471
Transport1.0530.987
Other Services n.e.s0.3390.381
Tourism and Travel0.1141.227
Communications0.110.108

Service imports, at €57.3bn, were down €60bn compared to the first quarter of 2020, mainly due to lower R&D related IP imports.

Royalties/Licences Exportsof which Pharmaceuticalof which Information and Communication
Q4 20183.020.0931.206
Q1 20192.0690.0371.048
Q2 20192.6180.0381.249
Q3 20192.6520.0321.234
Q4 20193.1430.0331.253
Q1 20202.7230.021.714
Q2 20202.8470.031.672
Q3 20203.0040.0231.717
Q4 20204.5110.0453.004
Q1 20212.7610.0251.685
Royalties/Licences Importsof which Pharmaceuticalof which Information and Communication
Q4 201819.9264.29211.749
Q1 201919.0144.51911.111
Q2 201920.7946.05911.677
Q3 201921.615.4890
Q4 201924.4335.8730
Q1 202018.9352.9360
Q2 202018.4683.7260
Q3 202016.22.9360
Q4 202030.8184.7930
Q1 202122.4613.2010

Please note: The Q3 2019, Q4 2019, Q1 - Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 figures for royalties/licences imports of which information and communication are suppressed due to confidentiality requirements.

Royalties/licences imports were €22.5bn in the first quarter of 2021, up €3.5bn on the same period in 2020.

Table 3.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports

Table 3.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports


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