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International Accounts Q1 2024 Final

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €48.1bn in Quarter 1 2024

Online ISSN: 2565-6384

CSO statistical publication, 12 July 2024, 11am

Ireland’s trade balance at €48.1bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, fell by €6.7bn in the first quarter of 2024 over the same period in 2023, mainly due to a decrease in contract manufacturing exports.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q4 2021	73.691	43.636
Q1 2022	78.38	52.2
Q2 2022	85.329	52.834
Q3 2022	94.696	53.728
Q4 2022	96.381	50.001
Q1 2023	88.961	50.949
Q2 2023	74.136	50.216
Q3 2023	71.383	47.651
Q4 2023	71.2	47.884
Q1 2024	75.526	53.239

Merchandise exports were €75.5bn in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of €13.4bn compared with the same quarter of 2023.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q4 2021	32.369	29.261
Q1 2022	32.152	29.167
Q2 2022	37.517	35.778
Q3 2022	38.181	34.453
Q4 2022	41.803	35.783
Q1 2023	35.197	33.179
Q2 2023	38.351	34.624
Q3 2023	34.54	31.096
Q4 2023	41.533	35.267
Q1 2024	36.711	29.905

Merchandise imports were €36.7bn in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of €1.5bn compared with the same period in 2023.

	Q1 2024	Q1 2023
Computer Services	62.726	52.253
Business Services	18.723	15.088
Financial Services	6.684	5.299
Other Services n.e.s	6.066	6.467
Insurance	3.713	3.771
Royalties/Licences	3.664	3.711
Transport	1.83	1.634
Tourism and Travel	1.37	1.505
Repairs and Processing	0.239	0.602
Communications	0.036	0.049

Service exports, at €105.1bn, increased by €14.7bn compared to the first quarter of 2023, mainly due to higher computer services exports (which increased by €10.5bn).

	Q1 2024	Q1 2023
Royalties/Licences	37.211	36.751
Business Services	33.053	29.907
Financial Services	6.006	4.932
Other Services n.e.s	5.014	4.416
Computer Services	4.225	2.724
Insurance	3.481	3.389
Tourism and Travel	2.82	2.203
Repairs and Processing	2.338	3.444
Transport	1.413	1.368
Communications	0.197	0.194

Service imports, at €95.8bn, were up €6.4bn compared to the first quarter of 2023, mainly due to increased business and computer and financial service imports.

	Royalties/Licences Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q4 2021	5.214	0.058	3.243
Q1 2022	3.693	0.037	2.333
Q2 2022	3.54	0.036	1.905
Q3 2022	3.266	0.057	1.089
Q4 2022	4.355	0.059	2.018
Q1 2023	3.711	0.043	1.12
Q2 2023	3.229	0.085	1.193
Q3 2023	3.476	0.028	0
Q4 2023	4.883	0.111	0
Q1 2024	3.664	0.096	0.921

	Royalties/Licences Imports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q4 2021	36.609	6.856	0
Q1 2022	29.196	3.981	0
Q2 2022	32.584	7.87	0
Q3 2022	33.008	7.835	0
Q4 2022	41.592	11.36	0
Q1 2023	36.751	6.055	0
Q2 2023	30.665	6.543	0
Q3 2023	33.295	4.463	0
Q4 2023	41.073	7.856	0
Q1 2024	37.211	4.919	0

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

Royalties/licences imports were €37.2bn in the first quarter of 2024, up €0.5bn on the same period in 2023.

Table 3.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports

Table 3.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports

Table 3.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports													€ million
			2022	2023	2022				2023				2024
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Services		Exports	371,648	399,015	86,465	91,519	95,447	98,217	90,380	97,624	101,439	109,572	105,053
		Imports	361,951	387,297	77,079	87,550	94,256	103,066	89,328	90,440	90,676	116,853	95,759
	Repairs and Processing	Exports	2,343	2,739	513	466	679	685	602	792	652	693	239
		Imports	11,244	11,719	2,323	2,578	2,719	3,624	3,444	2,567	2,448	3,260	2,338
	Transport	Exports	7,795	10,541	872	1,932	3,206	1,785	1,634	2,828	3,945	2,134	1,830
		Imports	5,915	5,684	1,300	1,516	1,553	1,546	1,368	1,366	1,306	1,644	1,413
	Tourism and Travel¹	Exports	6,801	6,981	775	1,908	2,485	1,633	1,505	1,729	2,132	1,615	1,370
		Imports	8,183	12,219	895	2,155	3,164	1,969	2,203	3,440	3,638	2,938	2,820
	Insurance	Exports	14,911	15,847	3,721	3,758	3,624	3,808	3,771	3,925	3,856	4,295	3,713
		Imports	14,235	14,190	3,619	3,569	3,531	3,516	3,389	3,674	3,420	3,707	3,481
	Financial services	Exports	22,068	22,145	5,592	5,414	5,716	5,346	5,299	5,208	5,787	5,851	6,684
		Imports	20,439	20,340	5,166	5,041	5,205	5,027	4,932	5,185	5,097	5,126	6,006
	Royalties/Licences	Exports	14,854	15,299	3,693	3,540	3,266	4,355	3,711	3,229	3,476	4,883	3,664
		Imports	136,380	141,784	29,196	32,584	33,008	41,592	36,751	30,665	33,295	41,073	37,211
	of which: Pharmaceutical products and preparations	Exports	189	267	37	36	57	59	43	85	28	111	96
		Imports	31,046	24,917	3,981	7,870	7,835	11,360	6,055	6,543	4,463	7,856	4,919
	Information and communication	Exports	7,345	5,506	2,333	1,905	1,089	2,018	1,120	1,193	*	*	921
		Imports	87,906	99,349	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Communications	Exports	187	173	47	48	45	47	49	45	42	37	36
		Imports	838	792	208	210	211	209	194	197	202	199	197
	Computer services²	Exports	204,946	228,219	47,810	51,114	51,042	54,980	52,253	55,182	57,041	63,743	62,726
		Imports	10,855	12,164	2,406	2,679	2,881	2,889	2,724	2,870	3,425	3,145	4,225
	Business services	Exports	71,732	69,234	17,509	16,509	19,202	18,512	15,088	17,629	18,037	18,480	18,723
		Imports	137,091	149,924	27,854	32,608	37,162	39,467	29,907	35,678	33,125	51,214	33,053
	Research and development	Exports	8,440	9,315	1,879	2,043	2,265	2,253	1,716	2,456	2,961	2,182	2,650
		Imports	46,414	53,414	8,526	10,657	13,385	13,846	8,246	9,738	10,075	25,355	9,249
	of which: IP related	Exports	1,504	2,129	373	433	601	97	89	860	975	205	*
		Imports	7,994	15,241	1,057	*	*	615	525	274	*	*	*
	Operational leasing	Exports	19,598	19,759	4,860	4,688	4,974	5,076	4,784	4,912	4,958	5,105	4,985
		Imports	1,843	1,347	424	446	481	492	365	332	326	324	340
	Misc. business services³	Exports	43,693	40,159	10,770	9,778	11,962	11,183	8,587	10,261	10,118	11,193	11,089
		Imports	88,835	95,163	18,904	21,505	23,297	25,129	21,295	25,608	22,725	25,535	23,465
	Other services n.e.s.	Exports	26,009	27,834	5,933	6,830	6,181	7,065	6,467	7,056	6,471	7,840	6,066
		Imports	16,772	18,480	4,111	4,612	4,821	3,228	4,416	4,798	4,719	4,547	5,014
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 3.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports													€ million
			2022	2023	2022				2023				2024
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Current Account
Merchandise¹		Exports	354,786	305,680	78,380	85,329	94,696	96,381	88,961	74,136	71,383	71,200	75,526
		Imports	149,653	149,621	32,152	37,517	38,181	41,803	35,197	38,351	34,540	41,533	36,711

	International trade	Exports	208,763	196,700	52,200	52,834	53,728	50,001	50,949	50,216	47,651	47,884	53,239
		Imports	135,181	134,166	29,167	35,778	34,453	35,783	33,179	34,624	31,096	35,267	29,905
	Goods for processing	Exports	131,973	99,011	18,450	32,267	37,368	43,888	34,530	21,275	18,990	24,216	20,618
		Imports	8,993	10,184	2,046	22	1,885	5,040	1,179	1,978	1,971	5,056	5,599
	Other conceptual adjustments	Exports	-10,422	-15,761	-1,415	-2,219	-2,691	-4,097	-2,233	-2,673	-2,483	-8,372	-3,106
		Imports	5,479	5,273	939	1,717	1,843	980	839	1,749	1,474	1,211	1,208
	Merchanting (net export)	Exports	24,473	25,730	9,146	2,447	6,291	6,589	5,714	5,318	7,226	7,472	4,775
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

International Accounts Q1 2024 Final

Goods and Services

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €48.1bn in Quarter 1 2024

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