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International Accounts Q1 2025

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €73.8bn in Q1 2025

Online ISSN: 2565-6384

CSO statistical release, 05 June 2025, 11am

Ireland’s trade balance at €73.8bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, increased by €36.8bn in the first quarter of 2025 over the same period in 2024, mainly due to an increase in merchandise exports.

	Goods	of which International Trade
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
Q2 2024	79.293	54.173
Q3 2024	82.468	57.457
Q4 2024	92.112	57.888
Q1 2025	113.079	88.375

Merchandise exports were €113.1bn in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of €37.5bn compared with the same quarter of 2024.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q4 2022	38.181	34.453
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
Q2 2024	39.76	31.957
Q3 2024	38.652	32.054
Q4 2024	37.667	33.357
Q1 2025	38.86	34.197

Merchandise imports were €38.8bn in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of €2.1bn compared with the same period in 2024.

	Q1 2025	Q1 2024
Computer Services	77.301	62.726
Business Services	21.06	18.723
Other Services n.e.s	10.129	6.066
Financial Services	6.806	6.684
Royalties/Licences	5.637	3.664
Insurance	4.514	3.713
Transport	2.288	1.83
Tourism and Travel	1.558	1.37
Repairs and Processing	0.452	0.239
Communications	0.037	0.036

Service exports, at €129.8bn, increased by €10.2bn compared to the first quarter of 2024, mainly due to higher computer services exports which increased by €9.7bn.

	Q1 2025	Q1 2024
Royalties/Licences	50.046	37.211
Business Services	44.351	33.053
Other Services n.e.s	8.061	5.014
Financial Services	6.022	6.006
Computer Services	4.85	4.225
Insurance	3.81	3.481
Tourism and Travel	3.349	2.82
Repairs and Processing	2.77	2.338
Transport	1.5	1.413
Communications	0.224	0.197

Service imports, at €115.7bn, increased by €19.9bn compared to the first quarter of 2024, mainly due to higher royalty imports and higher business services imports.

	Royalties/Licences Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
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
Q4 2023	4.883	0.111	0
Q1 2024	3.664	0.096	0
Q2 2024	3.87	0.154	0
Q3 2024	4.327	1.102
Q4 2024	5.637	0
Q1 2025	3.238	0	0

Exports of royalties/licences imports were €3.2bn in the first quarter of 2025, up €400m the same period in 2024.

	Royalties/Licences Imports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
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
Q2 2024	41.647	6.405	0
Q3 2024	40.53	4.442	0
Q4 2024	50.046	8.864	0
Q1 2025	42.045	5.702	0

Royalties/licences imports were €42bn in the first quarter of 2025, up €4.8bn on the same period in 2024.

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
			2023	2024	2023				2024				2025
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Services		Exports	399,015	480,001	90,380	97,624	101,439	109,572	105,053	130,146	115,018	129,784	115,260
		Imports	387,297	431,545	89,328	90,440	90,676	116,853	95,759	105,660	105,143	124,983	115,670
	Repairs and Processing	Exports	2,739	1,235	602	792	652	693	239	264	280	452	211
		Imports	11,719	9,327	3,444	2,567	2,448	3,260	2,338	2,231	1,988	2,770	1,998
	Transport	Exports	10,541	10,767	1,634	2,828	3,945	2,134	1,830	2,699	3,950	2,288	1,629
		Imports	5,684	5,986	1,368	1,366	1,306	1,644	1,413	1,552	1,521	1,500	1,506
	Tourism and Travel¹	Exports	6,981	7,256	1,505	1,729	2,132	1,615	1,370	1,993	2,335	1,558	1,116
		Imports	12,219	12,828	2,203	3,440	3,638	2,938	2,820	3,220	3,439	3,349	2,339
	Insurance	Exports	15,847	16,584	3,771	3,925	3,856	4,295	3,713	4,124	4,233	4,514	4,509
		Imports	14,190	13,747	3,389	3,674	3,420	3,707	3,481	3,253	3,203	3,810	3,731
	Financial services	Exports	22,145	25,950	5,299	5,208	5,787	5,851	6,684	6,323	6,137	6,806	6,601
		Imports	20,340	23,145	4,932	5,185	5,097	5,126	6,006	5,605	5,512	6,022	5,829
	Royalties/Licences	Exports	15,299	17,498	3,711	3,229	3,476	4,883	3,664	3,870	4,327	5,637	3,238
		Imports	141,784	169,434	36,751	30,665	33,295	41,073	37,211	41,647	40,530	50,046	42,045
	of which: Pharmaceutical products and preparations	Exports	267	1,263	43	85	28	111	96	154	..	..	..
		Imports	24,917	24,630	6,055	6,543	4,463	7,856	4,919	6,405	4,442	8,864	5,702
	Information and communication	Exports	5,506	..	1,120	1,193	..	..	921	1,222	1,102	..	838
		Imports	99,349	126,598	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
	Communications	Exports	173	147	49	45	42	37	36	37	37	37	55
		Imports	792	816	194	197	202	199	197	196	199	224	216
	Computer services²	Exports	228,219	272,968	52,253	55,182	57,041	63,743	62,726	66,478	66,463	77,301	72,417
		Imports	12,164	18,444	2,724	2,870	3,425	3,145	4,225	4,701	4,668	4,850	4,119
	Business services	Exports	69,234	96,466	15,088	17,629	18,037	18,480	18,723	37,424	19,259	21,060	17,577
		Imports	149,924	153,309	29,907	35,678	33,125	51,214	33,053	37,624	38,281	44,351	49,181
	Research and development	Exports	9,315	31,542	1,716	2,456	2,961	2,182	2,650	..	2,869	..	2,298
		Imports	53,414	44,320	8,246	9,738	10,075	25,355	9,249	10,926	11,297	12,848	22,784
	of which: IP related	Exports	2,129	20,107	89	860	975	205	..	..	440	..	192
		Imports	15,241	1,875	525	274	..	..	..	379	..	875	..
	Operational leasing	Exports	19,759	19,792	4,784	4,912	4,958	5,105	4,985	4,958	4,915	4,934	5,186
		Imports	1,347	1,452	365	332	326	324	340	350	351	411	460
	Misc. business services³	Exports	40,159	45,134	8,587	10,261	10,118	11,193	11,089	..	11,475	..	10,093
		Imports	95,163	107,537	21,295	25,608	22,725	25,535	23,465	26,348	26,632	31,092	25,938
	Other services n.e.s.	Exports	27,834	31,124	6,467	7,056	6,471	7,840	6,066	6,932	7,997	10,129	7,907
		Imports	18,480	24,507	4,416	4,798	4,719	4,547	5,014	5,631	5,801	8,061	4,705
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.
.. Data suppressed for confidentiality reasons.

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Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports													€ million
			2023	2024	2023				2024				2025
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Current Account
Merchandise¹		Exports	305,680	329,399	88,961	74,136	71,383	71,200	75,526	79,293	82,468	92,112	113,079
		Imports	149,621	152,790	35,197	38,351	34,540	41,533	36,711	39,760	38,652	37,667	38,860

	International trade	Exports	196,700	222,757	50,949	50,216	47,651	47,884	53,239	54,173	57,457	57,888	88,375
		Imports	134,166	127,273	33,179	34,624	31,096	35,267	29,905	31,957	32,054	33,357	34,197
	Goods for processing	Exports	99,011	92,609	34,530	21,275	18,990	24,216	20,618	21,620	20,112	30,259	17,440
		Imports	10,184	17,872	1,179	1,978	1,971	5,056	5,599	5,771	3,923	2,579	3,487
	Other conceptual adjustments	Exports	-15,761	-17,440	-2,233	-2,673	-2,483	-8,372	-3,106	-2,995	-3,997	-7,342	-3,833
		Imports	5,273	7,645	839	1,749	1,474	1,211	1,208	2,032	2,675	1,730	1,176
	Merchanting (net export)	Exports	25,730	31,473	5,714	5,318	7,226	7,472	4,775	6,494	8,896	11,308	11,098
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

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International Accounts Q1 2025

Goods and Services

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Trade balance of €73.8bn in Q1 2025

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