Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Goods and Services

Open in Excel:

Trade balance of €25.4bn in Q4 2021

Ireland’s trade balance at €25.4bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, decreased by €4.2bn in the fourth quarter of 2021 over the same period in 2020, due to increased Royalty and Business service imports.

Goodsof which International Trade
Q3 201957.1637.629
Q4 201958.82338.789
Q1 202062.52844.206
Q2 202057.03337.848
Q3 202061.34940.54
Q4 202063.89939.3
Q1 202168.82140.454
Q2 202169.05740.366
Q3 202172.26440.516
Q4 202172.68143.397

Merchandise exports were €72.7bn in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of €8.8bn compared with the same quarter of 2020.

Goodsof which International Trade
Q3 201925.91221.21
Q4 201929.63524.01
Q1 202024.87220.894
Q2 202022.75617.714
Q3 202023.45419.659
Q4 202028.77424.755
Q1 202125.16420.583
Q2 202126.77725.091
Q3 202126.53622.779
Q4 202131.40428.198

Merchandise imports were €31.4bn in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of €2.6bn compared with the same period in 2020.

Q4 2021Q4 2020
Computer Services50.06741.125
Business Services13.49315.053
Financial Services5.2355.87
Royalties/Licences4.844.511
Other Services n.e.s4.0824.056
Insurance3.6153.128
Transport0.8770.343
Repairs and Processing0.5830.707
Tourism and Travel0.2720.286
Communications0.060.062

Service exports, at €83.1bn, increased by €8bn compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, mainly due to higher Computer services exports (which increased by €8.9bn).

Q4 2021Q4 2020
Business Services48.44736.442
Royalties/Licences36.20830.818
Financial Services4.7474.962
Insurance2.592.448
Repairs and Processing2.5272.387
Computer Services2.1551.65
Transport1.3171.07
Other Services n.e.s0.5260.394
Tourism and Travel0.3180.353
Communications0.1210.112

Service imports, at €99bn, were up €18.3bn compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, mainly due to increased Royalty and Business service imports.

Royalties/Licences Exportsof which Pharmaceuticalof which Information and Communication
Q3 20192.6520.0321.234
Q4 20193.1430.0331.253
Q1 20202.7230.021.714
Q2 20202.8470.031.672
Q3 20203.0040.0231.717
Q4 20204.5110.0453.004
Q1 20212.7610.0251.685
Q2 20213.5680.0442.275
Q3 20213.720.0362.246
Q4 20214.840.0633.204
Royalties/Licences Importsof which Pharmaceuticalof which Information and Communication
Q3 201921.615.4890
Q4 201924.4335.8730
Q1 202018.9352.9360
Q2 202018.4683.7260
Q3 202016.22.9360
Q4 202030.8184.7930
Q1 202122.4613.2010
Q2 202126.2834.7950
Q3 202127.6413.7310
Q4 202136.2086.9340

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

Royalties/licences imports were €36.2bn in the fourth quarter of 2021, up €5.4bn on the same period in 2020.

Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports


Next Chapter >> Accounts with the UK