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International Accounts Q1 2023

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €54.6bn in Quarter 1 2023

Online ISSN: 2565-6384

CSO statistical publication, 02 June 2023, 11am

Ireland’s trade balance at €54.6bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, increased by €1.4bn in the first quarter of 2023 over the same period in 2022, mainly due to increased contract manufacturing exports which were partially offset by increased royalty imports.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q4 2020	63.384	39.499
Q1 2021	67.641	40.353
Q2 2021	67.679	40.586
Q3 2021	71.697	41.079
Q4 2021	72.343	43.236
Q1 2022	78.473	52.257
Q2 2022	85.13	52.953
Q3 2022	92.641	53.861
Q4 2022	94.768	49.243
Q1 2023	88.802	50.692

Merchandise exports were €88.8bn in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of €10.3bn compared with the same quarter of 2022.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q4 2020	29.041	24.992
Q1 2021	25.583	21.397
Q2 2021	27.542	25.839
Q3 2021	26.874	22.962
Q4 2021	32.051	28.476
Q1 2022	30.688	27.941
Q2 2022	36.048	35.669
Q3 2022	39.095	34.723
Q4 2022	40.803	34.453
Q1 2023	32.703	31.83

Merchandise imports were €32.7bn in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of €2bn compared with the same period in 2022.

	Q1 2023	Q1 2022
Computer Services	49.636	45.818
Business Services	13.599	14.719
Financial Services	5.243	4.981
Insurance	3.928	3.558
Royalties/Licences	3.779	3.882
Other Services n.e.s	3.181	2.789
Transport	1.634	0.81
Tourism and Travel	1.552	0.806
Repairs and Processing	0.711	0.534
Communications	0.038	0.059

Service exports, at €83.3bn, increased by €5.3bn compared to the first quarter of 2022, mainly due to higher Computer services exports (which increased by €3.8bn) and higher Transport and Travel services exports (which both increased by €0.8bn).

	Q1 2023	Q1 2022
Royalties/Licences	37.081	28.857
Business Services	29.716	28.167
Financial Services	4.59	4.647
Insurance	3.542	3.375
Repairs and Processing	3.213	2.158
Tourism and Travel	2.448	1.001
Computer Services	2.16	2.387
Transport	1.315	1.235
Other Services n.e.s	0.559	0.491
Communications	0.158	0.196

Service imports, at €84.8bn, were up €12.3bn compared to the first quarter of 2022, mainly due to increased Royalty imports of €8.2bn and increased Travel and Business service imports (which grew by €1.4bn and €1.5bn).

	Royalties/Licences Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q4 2020	4.423	0.052	2.953
Q1 2021	3.223	0.032	1.98
Q2 2021	3.515	0.038	2.227
Q3 2021	3.677	0.03	2.244
Q4 2021	5.029	0.057	3.204
Q1 2022	3.882	0.036	2.351
Q2 2022	3.378	0.071	1.876
Q3 2022	2.942	0.039	1.087
Q4 2022	4.008	0.058	0
Q1 2023	3.779	0.042	1.103

	Royalties/Licences Imports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q4 2020	30.745	4.893	0
Q1 2021	22.529	2.919	0
Q2 2021	26.42	4.824	0
Q3 2021	27.664	3.654	0
Q4 2021	36.205	6.855	0
Q1 2022	28.857	4.008	0
Q2 2022	30.589	6.58	0
Q3 2022	29.501	4.545	0
Q4 2022	41.42	11.306	0
Q1 2023	37.081	6.063	0

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

Royalties/licences imports were €37.1bn in the first quarter of 2023, up €8.2bn on the same period in 2022.

Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports													€ million
			2021	2022	2021				2022				2023
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Services		Exports	293,629	337,282	63,385	70,835	74,001	85,408	77,956	81,710	85,888	91,728	83,300
		Imports	293,053	354,051	57,895	65,632	68,855	100,671	72,514	78,736	104,379	98,422	84,782
	Repairs and Processing	Exports	1,718	2,439	364	373	404	577	534	487	718	700	711
		Imports	8,189	10,619	1,978	1,824	1,836	2,551	2,158	2,363	2,457	3,641	3,213
	Transport	Exports	2,656	7,733	167	305	1,234	950	810	1,932	3,206	1,785	1,634
		Imports	4,756	5,788	1,090	1,098	1,180	1,388	1,235	1,468	1,565	1,520	1,315
	Tourism and Travel¹	Exports	2,272	5,878	350	297	715	910	806	1,212	1,932	1,928	1,552
		Imports	2,166	7,323	131	182	860	993	1,001	1,492	2,362	2,468	2,448
	Insurance	Exports	13,681	14,370	3,251	3,261	3,439	3,730	3,558	3,603	3,475	3,734	3,928
		Imports	10,568	13,409	2,593	2,797	2,526	2,652	3,375	3,355	3,333	3,346	3,542
	Financial services	Exports	22,153	21,676	5,507	5,713	5,681	5,252	4,981	5,714	5,708	5,273	5,243
		Imports	19,040	18,831	4,620	4,853	4,816	4,751	4,647	4,608	4,783	4,793	4,590
	Royalties/Licences	Exports	15,444	14,210	3,223	3,515	3,677	5,029	3,882	3,378	2,942	4,008	3,779
		Imports	112,818	130,367	22,529	26,420	27,664	36,205	28,857	30,589	29,501	41,420	37,081
	of which: Pharmaceutical products and preparations	Exports	157	204	32	38	30	57	36	71	39	58	42
		Imports	18,252	26,439	2,919	4,824	3,654	6,855	4,008	6,580	4,545	11,306	6,063
	Information and communication	Exports	9,655	*	1,980	2,227	2,244	3,204	2,351	1,876	1,087	*	1,103
		Imports	80,386	88,621	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Communications	Exports	237	235	58	60	60	59	59	60	59	57	38
		Imports	750	792	179	188	193	190	196	197	203	196	158
	Computer services²	Exports	172,856	195,946	37,464	42,044	42,611	50,737	45,818	48,823	48,211	53,094	49,636
		Imports	8,342	10,752	1,788	2,113	2,118	2,323	2,387	2,718	2,933	2,714	2,160
	Business services	Exports	49,858	60,051	10,404	12,071	13,304	14,079	14,719	12,686	16,268	16,378	13,599
		Imports	124,506	153,866	22,571	25,691	27,169	49,075	28,167	31,322	56,685	37,692	29,716
	Research and development	Exports	6,300	6,721	1,157	1,435	1,695	2,013	1,166	1,336	1,813	2,406	1,381
		Imports	45,993	66,661	6,419	7,167	8,099	24,308	8,392	10,502	34,006	13,761	7,946
	of which: IP related	Exports	1,297	1,089	216	337	535	209	101	103	373	512	8
		Imports	18,286	28,691	758	644	*	*	881	*	*	802	542
	Operational leasing	Exports	16,888	17,452	4,056	4,206	4,285	4,341	4,360	4,148	4,375	4,569	4,350
		Imports	1,687	1,838	375	410	419	483	429	439	480	490	460
	Misc. business services³	Exports	26,670	35,877	5,191	6,429	7,325	7,725	9,193	7,202	10,079	9,403	7,868
		Imports	76,826	85,367	15,777	18,114	18,650	24,285	19,346	20,381	22,199	23,441	21,311
	Other services n.e.s.	Exports	12,754	14,744	2,597	3,196	2,875	4,086	2,789	3,815	3,369	4,771	3,181
		Imports	1,919	2,305	416	466	493	544	491	624	559	631	559
¹Under the credit item, passenger fare receipts of resident carriers from foreign visitors are excluded; such receipts are included under transport credits - see Background Notes.
²Covers exports and imports of software that were not incorporated as part of computer hardware or physical media but separately transmitted by electronic means. The value of sales and purchases of additional software licences is also included.
³Covers mainly advertising and inter-affiliate management charges.

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Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports													€ million
			2021	2022	2021				2022				2023
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Current Account
Merchandise¹		Exports	279,360	351,012	67,641	67,679	71,697	72,343	78,473	85,130	92,641	94,768	88,802
		Imports	112,050	146,634	25,583	27,542	26,874	32,051	30,688	36,048	39,095	40,803	32,703

	International trade	Exports	165,254	208,314	40,353	40,586	41,079	43,236	52,257	52,953	53,861	49,243	50,692
		Imports	98,674	132,786	21,397	25,839	22,962	28,476	27,941	35,669	34,723	34,453	31,830
	Goods for processing	Exports	100,928	134,711	23,144	22,174	25,080	30,530	18,619	32,894	38,520	44,678	35,008
		Imports	9,597	9,064	2,205	1,777	3,116	2,499	1,703	-998	2,632	5,727	-25
	Other conceptual adjustments	Exports	-10,293	-9,691	-235	-2,652	-1,591	-5,815	-1,276	-2,254	-2,409	-3,752	-2,464
		Imports	3,778	4,785	1,981	-75	796	1,076	1,045	1,378	1,740	622	898
	Merchanting (net export)	Exports	23,472	17,678	4,380	7,571	7,129	4,392	8,874	1,536	2,669	4,599	5,565
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

International Accounts Q1 2023

Goods and Services

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €54.6bn in Quarter 1 2023

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