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International Accounts Q2 2021

Goods and Services

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Trade balance of €45.2bn in Q2 2021

Ireland’s trade balance at €45.2bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, increased by €12.6bn in the second quarter of 2021 over the same period in 2020, due to a decrease in R&D related IP imports.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q1 2019	56.594	37.577
Q2 2019	53.367	38.54
Q3 2019	57.16	37.629
Q4 2019	58.823	38.789
Q1 2020	62.528	44.206
Q2 2020	57.033	37.848
Q3 2020	61.349	40.54
Q4 2020	63.899	39.3
Q1 2021	68.821	40.454
Q2 2021	69.057	40.366

Merchandise exports were €69bn in the second quarter of 2021, an increase of €12bn compared with the same quarter of 2020.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q1 2019	26.043	20.98
Q2 2019	26.238	21.286
Q3 2019	25.912	21.21
Q4 2019	29.635	24.01
Q1 2020	24.872	20.894
Q2 2020	22.756	17.714
Q3 2020	23.454	19.659
Q4 2020	28.774	24.755
Q1 2021	25.164	20.583
Q2 2021	26.777	25.091

Merchandise imports were €26.8bn in the second quarter of 2021, an increase of €4bn compared with the same period in 2020.

	Q2 2021	Q2 2020
Computer Services	41.289	30.566
Business Services	10.938	10.682
Financial Services	5.631	4.35
Royalties/Licences	3.568	2.847
Other Services n.e.s	3.386	2.922
Insurance	3.144	2.658
Repairs and Processing	0.379	0.695
Transport	0.278	0.298
Tourism and Travel	0.144	0.277
Communications	0.061	0.063

Service exports, at €68.8bn, increased by €13.5bn compared to the second quarter of 2020, mainly due to higher Computer services exports (which increased by €10.7bn).

	Q2 2021	Q2 2020
Business Services	26.66	27.143
Royalties/Licences	26.283	18.468
Financial Services	4.764	4.009
Insurance	2.608	2.299
Computer Services	1.949	1.644
Repairs and Processing	1.849	1.874
Transport	1.099	0.956
Other Services n.e.s	0.381	0.319
Tourism and Travel	0.16	0.193
Communications	0.118	0.115

Service imports, at €65.9bn, were up €8.9bn compared to the second quarter of 2020, mainly due to increased Royalty imports.

	Royalties/Licences Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q1 2019	2.069	0.037	1.048
Q2 2019	2.618	0.038	1.249
Q3 2019	2.652	0.032	1.234
Q4 2019	3.143	0.033	1.253
Q1 2020	2.723	0.02	1.714
Q2 2020	2.847	0.03	1.672
Q3 2020	3.004	0.023	1.717
Q4 2020	4.511	0.045	3.004
Q1 2021	2.761	0.025	1.685
Q2 2021	3.568	0.044	2.275

	Royalties/Licences Imports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q1 2019	19.014	4.519	11.111
Q2 2019	20.794	6.059	11.677
Q3 2019	21.61	5.489	0
Q4 2019	24.433	5.873	0
Q1 2020	18.935	2.936	0
Q2 2020	18.468	3.726	0
Q3 2020	16.2	2.936	0
Q4 2020	30.818	4.793	0
Q1 2021	22.461	3.201	0
Q2 2021	26.283	4.795	0

Please note: The Q3 2019, Q4 2019, Q1 - Q4 2020 and Q1 – Q2 2021 figures for royalties/licences imports of which information and communication are suppressed due to confidentiality requirements.

Royalties/licences imports were €26.3bn in the second quarter of 2021, up €7.8bn on the same period in 2020.

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
		2019	2020	2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2
Services	Exports	230,152	244,069	55,756	55,356	57,818	75,139	62,212	68,818
	Imports	335,716	305,968	117,336	57,021	50,975	80,636	57,259	65,873
Repairs and Processing	Exports	2,049	2,707	609	695	696	707	560	379
	Imports	6,261	7,377	1,530	1,874	1,586	2,387	1,963	1,849
Transport	Exports	8,041	2,535	1,088	298	806	343	162	278
	Imports	4,236	3,914	987	956	901	1,070	1,053	1,099
Tourism and Travel¹	Exports	5,786	1,645	769	277	313	286	125	144
	Imports	7,374	2,072	1,227	193	299	353	114	160
Insurance	Exports	10,271	11,284	2,767	2,658	2,731	3,128	3,145	3,144
	Imports	8,361	9,282	2,479	2,299	2,056	2,448	2,499	2,608
Financial services	Exports	17,620	19,129	3,936	4,350	4,973	5,870	5,491	5,631
	Imports	15,686	16,943	3,691	4,009	4,281	4,962	4,537	4,764
Royalties/Licences	Exports	10,482	13,085	2,723	2,847	3,004	4,511	2,761	3,568
	Imports	85,851	84,421	18,935	18,468	16,200	30,818	22,461	26,283
of which: Pharmaceutical products and preparations	Exports	140	118	20	30	23	45	25	44
	Imports	21,940	14,391	2,936	3,726	2,936	4,793	3,201	4,795
Information and communication	Exports	4,784	8,107	1,714	1,672	1,717	3,004	1,685	2,275
	Imports	50,680	56,855	*	*	*	*	*	*
Communications	Exports	484	259	71	63	63	62	60	61
	Imports	568	442	108	115	107	112	110	118
Computer services²	Exports	118,459	134,182	30,633	30,566	31,858	41,125	36,747	41,289
	Imports	6,161	6,306	1,471	1,644	1,541	1,650	1,623	1,949
Business services	Exports	48,106	48,214	11,681	10,682	10,798	15,053	10,298	10,938
	Imports	199,717	173,741	86,528	27,143	23,628	36,442	22,560	26,660
Research and development	Exports	5,487	9,198	1,411	1,228	1,137	5,422	1,001	1,053
	Imports	137,006	104,183	*	10,809	6,705	*	6,625	7,053
of which: IP related	Exports	933	4,710	*	*	121	*	*	123
	Imports	116,004	79,374	*	3,983	699	*	*	*
Operational leasing	Exports	19,425	18,122	4,971	4,715	4,261	4,175	4,162	4,161
	Imports	1,185	1,183	291	291	297	304	311	322
Misc. business services³	Exports	23,194	20,897	5,299	4,740	5,401	5,457	5,134	5,725
	Imports	61,525	68,376	*	16,043	16,626	*	15,624	19,285
Other services n.e.s.	Exports	8,854	11,033	1,479	2,922	2,576	4,056	2,863	3,386
	Imports	1,500	1,472	381	319	378	394	339	381
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
		2019	2020	2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	225,944	244,809	62,528	57,033	61,349	63,899	68,821	69,057
	Imports	107,828	99,856	24,872	22,756	23,454	28,774	25,164	26,777

International trade	Exports	152,535	161,894	44,206	37,848	40,540	39,300	40,454	40,366
	Imports	87,486	83,022	20,894	17,714	19,659	24,755	20,583	25,091
Goods for processing	Exports	66,264	73,945	14,737	16,728	18,535	23,945	25,257	21,162
	Imports	16,394	14,851	3,230	4,722	3,322	3,577	4,114	1,854
Other conceptual adjustments	Exports	-6,813	-5,901	-83	-884	-1,316	-3,618	-2,290	-1,986
	Imports	3,948	1,983	747	320	474	442	466	-168
Merchanting (net export)	Exports	13,960	14,873	3,668	3,342	3,591	4,272	5,400	9,516
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

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International Accounts Q2 2021

Goods and Services

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €45.2bn in Q2 2021

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