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International Accounts Q3 2023

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €46bn in Quarter 3 2023

Online ISSN: 2565-6384

CSO statistical publication, 01 December 2023, 11am

Ireland’s trade balance at €46bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, fell by €5.6bn in the third quarter of 2023 over the same period in 2022, mainly due to a decrease in contract manufacturing exports.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q2 2021	67.62	40.586
Q3 2021	71.836	41.141
Q4 2021	73.712	43.636
Q1 2022	78.365	52.203
Q2 2022	85.341	52.868
Q3 2022	94.971	53.698
Q4 2022	95.752	49.68
Q1 2023	88.977	50.868
Q2 2023	76.365	51.32
Q3 2023	71.871	47.956

Merchandise exports were €71.9bn in the third quarter of 2023, a decrease of €23.1bn compared with the same quarter of 2022.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q2 2021	27.698	25.839
Q3 2021	26.794	23.052
Q4 2021	32.369	29.261
Q1 2022	32.104	29.222
Q2 2022	37.404	35.813
Q3 2022	41.387	38.162
Q4 2022	41.251	35.621
Q1 2023	32.984	32.11
Q2 2023	37.885	34.074
Q3 2023	34.455	30.455

Merchandise imports were €34.5bn in the third quarter of 2023, a decrease of €6.9bn compared with the same period in 2022.

	Q3 2023	Q3 2022
Computer Services	54.643	48.812
Business Services	16.181	17.116
Financial Services	5.711	5.517
Transport	3.945	3.206
Insurance	3.717	3.603
Royalties/Licences	3.298	3.033
Other Services n.e.s	2.446	1.938
Tourism and Travel	1.912	2.471
Repairs and Processing	0.763	0.755
Communications	0.035	0.038

Service exports, at €92.7bn, increased by €6.2bn compared to the third quarter of 2022, mainly due to higher computer services exports (which increased by €5.8bn).

	Q3 2023	Q3 2022
Royalties/Licences	33.027	32.891
Business Services	31.817	36.29
Financial Services	4.921	4.9
Insurance	3.477	3.526
Tourism and Travel	3.211	3.162
Computer Services	2.977	2.564
Repairs and Processing	2.429	2.702
Transport	1.265	1.733
Other Services n.e.s	0.765	0.575
Communications	0.168	0.162

Service imports, at €84.1bn, were down €4.5bn compared to the third quarter of 2022, mainly due to decreased R&D related IP service imports (which fell by €4.1bn).

	Royalties/Licences Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q2 2021	3.513	0.038	2.227
Q3 2021	3.675	0.03	2.245
Q4 2021	5.097	0.058	3.243
Q1 2022	3.458	0.063	2.333
Q2 2022	3.494	0.069	1.905
Q3 2022	3.033	0.038	0
Q4 2022	4.143	0.056	0
Q1 2023	3.779	0.042	1.103
Q2 2023	3.068	0.085	1.193
Q3 2023	3.298	0.028	1.154

	Royalties/Licences Imports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q2 2021	26.412	4.825	0
Q3 2021	27.647	3.655	0
Q4 2021	36.366	6.856	0
Q1 2022	29.032	3.969	0
Q2 2022	32.601	7.859	0
Q3 2022	32.891	7.823	0
Q4 2022	41.424	11.288	0
Q1 2023	37.081	6.063	0
Q2 2023	30.468	6.685	0
Q3 2023	33.027	4.412	0

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

Royalties/licences imports were €33bn in the third quarter of 2023, up €0.1bn 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	2022				2023
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3
Services		Exports	299,781	339,622	78,462	83,185	86,488	91,487	83,194	90,727	92,652
		Imports	294,332	339,857	71,495	81,940	88,506	97,916	84,019	83,323	84,056
	Repairs and Processing	Exports	1,720	2,635	585	541	755	754	711	905	763
		Imports	8,190	11,165	2,302	2,560	2,702	3,601	3,213	2,341	2,429
	Transport	Exports	2,894	7,795	872	1,932	3,206	1,785	1,634	2,813	3,945
		Imports	4,751	6,066	1,302	1,514	1,733	1,517	1,218	1,353	1,265
	Tourism and Travel¹	Exports	2,273	6,686	736	1,884	2,471	1,595	1,283	2,266	1,912
		Imports	2,166	8,054	864	2,124	3,162	1,904	1,781	2,517	3,211
	Insurance	Exports	13,339	14,825	3,700	3,738	3,603	3,784	3,928	3,839	3,717
		Imports	10,354	14,172	3,602	3,551	3,526	3,493	3,536	3,722	3,477
	Financial services	Exports	23,195	21,836	5,606	5,424	5,517	5,289	5,244	5,538	5,711
		Imports	20,698	19,808	5,090	4,953	4,900	4,865	4,598	4,934	4,921
	Royalties/Licences	Exports	15,506	14,128	3,458	3,494	3,033	4,143	3,779	3,068	3,298
		Imports	113,164	135,948	29,032	32,601	32,891	41,424	37,081	30,468	33,027
	of which: Pharmaceutical products and preparations	Exports	159	226	63	69	38	56	42	85	28
		Imports	18,476	30,939	3,969	7,859	7,823	11,288	6,063	6,685	4,412
	Information and communication	Exports	9,696	7,339	2,333	1,905	*	*	1,103	1,193	1,154
		Imports	80,392	88,582	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Communications	Exports	237	158	40	41	38	39	38	40	35
		Imports	755	640	159	161	162	158	158	164	168
	Computer services²	Exports	173,750	195,719	45,520	48,871	48,812	52,516	49,636	52,623	54,643
		Imports	9,388	9,473	2,029	2,357	2,564	2,523	2,160	2,461	2,977
	Business services	Exports	54,075	63,786	15,610	14,404	17,116	16,656	13,761	16,167	16,181
		Imports	123,026	132,164	26,605	31,483	36,290	37,786	29,716	34,619	31,817
	Research and development	Exports	6,369	7,176	1,610	1,617	1,630	2,319	1,381	1,860	2,235
		Imports	45,821	45,133	8,115	10,327	13,033	13,658	7,946	9,833	9,761
	of which: IP related	Exports	1,327	1,764	555	*	*	513	8	*	590
		Imports	18,209	8,080	1,026	*	*	773	542	278	177
	Operational leasing	Exports	17,981	18,254	4,492	4,343	4,640	4,779	4,509	4,922	4,926
		Imports	1,596	1,695	388	404	445	458	383	326	332
	Misc. business services³	Exports	29,726	38,356	9,508	8,444	10,846	9,558	7,872	9,385	9,019
		Imports	75,610	85,336	18,102	20,752	22,812	23,670	21,387	24,461	21,725
	Other services n.e.s.	Exports	12,793	12,056	2,334	2,857	1,938	4,927	3,181	3,469	2,446
		Imports	1,840	2,365	510	636	575	644	559	743	765
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.

Open in Excel: International Accounts Q3 2023 Table 2.2 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports											€ million
			2021	2022	2022				2023
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3
Current Account
Merchandise¹		Exports	280,741	354,429	78,365	85,341	94,971	95,752	88,977	76,365	71,871
		Imports	112,240	152,146	32,104	37,404	41,387	41,251	32,984	37,885	34,455

	International trade	Exports	165,716	208,449	52,203	52,868	53,698	49,680	50,868	51,320	47,956
		Imports	99,549	138,818	29,222	35,813	38,162	35,621	32,110	34,074	30,455
	Goods for processing	Exports	101,456	131,975	18,450	32,280	37,397	43,848	35,008	20,349	18,737
		Imports	9,021	8,273	1,971	-98	1,492	4,908	-25	2,091	1,728
	Other conceptual adjustments	Exports	-10,551	-10,093	-1,406	-2,227	-2,389	-4,071	-2,464	-695	-2,392
		Imports	3,670	5,055	911	1,689	1,733	722	898	1,721	2,272
	Merchanting (net export)	Exports	24,121	24,099	9,119	2,421	6,264	6,295	5,565	5,390	7,571
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

International Accounts Q3 2023

Goods and Services

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €46bn in Quarter 3 2023

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