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Irish Traders and the UK 2017

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There were 6,719 enterprises who exported goods to the UK in 2017, 78% of the total number of exporters. 3,214 enterprises, almost half of the enterprises who exported to the UK, traded with the UK only. The value of this export trade was €2.4 billion, or 15% of total UK exports.

Exports to the UK in 2017 were €16 billion in total. The biggest exporting sector, by value, was the Agri/Food sector, which exported €3.7 billion of goods to the UK in 2017.

27,152 enterprises imported goods from the UK in 2017, which is 86% of the total of 31,661 importing firms. Approximately one third of all importers had the UK as their sole trading partner (11,049 enterprises).

The total value of goods imports from the UK was €22.5 billion, based on country of consignment. Companies who import only from the UK accounted for €3.9 billion, or 18% of UK imports in 2017.

The Retail and wholesale sector was the biggest economic sector importing from the UK in 2017. There were 12,761 enterprises from this sector importing goods, which is almost half of all companies importing from the UK. The value of imports was €12.5 billion, representing 57% of total imports from the UK.

An additional appendix has been added to the publication with information on Intra-EU trade by SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises).

Share of exporters
Partial UK trade41
UK trade only37
No UK trade22
Share of importers
Partial UK trade51
UK trade only35
No UK trade14
Table 1.1 Exports and imports by UK trade share 2017
 Exports Imports
Number of enterprises€million Number of enterprises€million
UK tradeTotal trade UK tradeTotal trade
UK trade only3,2142,4402,440 11,0493,9463,946
Partial UK trade3,50513,625103,804 16,10318,51355,156
Trade with UK6,71916,065106,244 27,15222,45959,102
No UK trade1,895 15,515 4,509 23,493
Total8,61416,065121,759 31,66122,45982,595

The Trade by Enterprise Characteristics data (TEC data) published here covers enterprises with annual exports or imports of more than €5,000. Enterprises are classified by economic sector and employment size with information on value and number of enterprises provided for each category. The value of UK imports differs from our monthly publication as the data is based on country of consignment, rather than country of origin. This difference is quantified and explained in the publication.

The statistics have used a new data source (Recapitulative VAT statements) for determining the trading partner country of small traders. It should be noted that this methodology is still under development and may be modified for future publications.

CSO statistical publication, , 11am

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