Profile of Trading Enterprises 2022

The value of exports is dominated by foreign-owned enterprises, and in particular in the Industry sector.

In 2022, 87% of the value of exports was from foreign-owned enterprises. Over €173 billion was exported by foreign-owned enterprises, €159 billion of which was in the Industry sector (NACE B to E).  Of the 11,769 exporting enterprises in 2022, 18% were foreign-owned.

There are more than four times as many Irish-owned exporting enterprises as there are foreign owned.

Foreign-owned enterprises are also responsible for the majority of imports, albeit less dominant than in the export market.

When looking at imports, 73%, or €98 billion of imports were made by foreign-owned enterprises, of which €51 billion was in the industry sector, and €25 billion in the retail and wholesale sector.

In terms of the number of traders, there were twelve times as many Irish-owned importing enterprises than foreign-owned.

There were over 49,500 enterprises who imported goods greater than €1,000 in 2022. Of these, 45,704 were Irish-owned and 3,813 were foreign-owned enterprises.