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Country of Consignment and Country of Origin Methodology

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The country of import of goods can be defined in two ways: country of origin; or country of consignment. The country of origin is the country from which the goods originate. The country of consignment is the last Member State where a change has been made to the goods, for example, where there is a change of ownership of the goods, or goods are repackaged or further processed in some way. Note that in the case where the goods simply transit through a Member State, that Member State is not recorded in the trade statistics at all.

In terms of Ireland’s trade with the UK, imports in 2016 which originated in the UK amounted to €16.9 billion. Imports where the UK was the country of consignment amounted to €20.5 billion.

Table 10.1 Differences in value for imports from the UK based on Country of import methodology
Year€million
UK imports consignmentUK imports originDifference
200821,50719,2032,304
200915,86113,7282,133
201017,04014,8132,227
201118,96916,6852,284
201218,95816,4292,529
201319,50516,8862,619
201420,65017,5643,086
201521,87517,9943,881
201620,51516,8723,643
201722,35018,7773,573
Table 10.2 Imports from the UK by consignment and origin 2016
SITC Rev 4Product description€million
UK consignmentUK origin
0Food and live animals3,6293,240
1Beverages and tobacco507361
2Crude materials, inedible, except fuels234206
3Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials2,1362,089
4Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes6865
5Chemicals and related products2,9572,445
6Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material2,0581,859
7Machinery and transport equipment4,4783,140
8Miscellaneous manufactured articles3,1232,312
9Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere1,3251,155
Total 20,51516,872

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