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Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2018

Trade

€36bn

The value of the Top 5 exporters or 31% of total exports in 2016

This chapter contains information on Ireland's Goods Exports and Imports statistics which provide data on the movement of goods between countries. The statistics are a combination of customs-based non-EU trade statistics and data from the Intrastat survey of Irish traders involved in trade with other EU member states.

Goods Exports and Imports summary analysis

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X-axis label	Exports	Imports	Trade surplus
1975	1.8378188947184	2.16376065945117	-0.326041764732771
1976	2.3605	2.9686	-0.608
1977	3.1974	3.92463342661676	-0.727233426616757
1978	3.76248787400135	4.71466445901539	-0.952176585014043
1979	4.41576811535317	6.13016846884825	-1.71440035349508
1980	5.18370570518713	6.88286920174106	-1.69916349655393
1981	6.06630064350326	8.3529	-2.28659935649674
1982	7.22658729957184	8.6547	-1.42811270042816
1983	8.8169	9.35390647617209	-0.537006476172095
1984	11.2974945528236	11.3161	-0.0186054471763582
1985	12.3710580981355	11.971344551046	0.399813547089506
1986	11.9029056686187	10.9467928955615	0.956112773057173
1987	13.6160362840353	11.6247060556348	1.99133022840048
1988	15.6238731074554	12.9701205235384	2.65385258391699
1989	18.5343667308308	15.5978434768476	2.93662325398317
1990	18.2038539090156	15.8321101523178	2.37174375669787
1991	19.07006922612	16.3171500982777	2.75291912784231
1992	21.2602404376025	16.7539399972574	4.50640044034517
1993	25.1785251738271	18.8996703759948	6.2788547978323
1994	28.8908583937305	21.9453911047229	6.94556728900762
1995	35.3300811108684	26.1808564129391	9.14922469792932
1996	38.6089257507961	28.4794632563195	10.1295624944766
1997	44.8679726346049	32.8634879197119	12.004484714893
1998	57.321817655454	39.7149945909158	17.6067230645382
1999	66.9562092731511	44.3270642131941	22.629145059957
2000	83.986	54.9601	29.0259
2001	92.7304	56.4552	36.2752
2002	94.0589	55.1057	38.9532
2003	82.5848	48.5153	34.0695
2004	84.9492	51.5572	33.392
2005	87.1727	58.4626	28.71
2006	87.4967	63.8331	23.6635
2007	90.5797	65.9393	24.6404
2008	88.5031	59.3356	29.1675
2009	87.5855	48.2033	39.3821
2010	90.9238	48.6946	42.2292
2011	93.1906	53.0352	40.1554
2012	93.5067	56.1792	37.3275
2013	89.1815	55.7871	33.3944
2014	92.6159	62.1575	30.4584
2015	112.407	70.111	42.296
2016	119.2922	74.1306	45.1616
2017	122.551	79.063	43.488

Interactive table: StatBank link

Between 1975 and 2017 the value of goods exported rose from €1,838 million to €122,551 million. The value of imports rose from €2,164 million to €79,063 million. The year 2017 represented the highest level of both exports and imports on record.

The Trade in Goods balance (exports minus imports) changed from a deficit of €326 million in 1975 to a surplus of €43,488 million in 2017.

The value of exports in 2017 increased by €3,259 million over 2016, while imports grew by €4,932 million over the same period.

Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity

Table 17.1 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity
€m
SITC (Rev 4)		Exports				Imports
		Exports				Imports
		2014	2015	2016	2017	2014	2015	2016	2017
0	Food and live animals	9,350	9,878	10,096	11,375	6,189	6,687	6,689	7,183
1	Beverages and tobacco	1,147	1,287	1,333	1,363	837	876	914	907
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	1,795	1,771	1,529	1,815	727	855	824	903
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	847	773	691	992	6,477	5,104	3,776	4,681
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	62	57	78	91	217	245	245	260
5	Chemicals and related products	51,569	64,224	66,385	67,822	11,443	13,978	14,963	17,481
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	1,871	2,105	2,144	2,277	4,232	4,698	4,751	5,060
7	Machinery and transport equipment	12,100	16,808	21,420	20,938	23,580	27,891	31,581	32,005
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	12,628	14,299	14,645	14,860	6,898	8,166	8,253	8,300
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	607	562	336	389	293	337	374	434
Unclassified estimates¹		641	643	632	628	1,264	1,275	1,761	1,849

Total		92,616	112,407	119,292	122,551	62,157	70,111	74,131	79,063
¹Estimates for which a commodity classification is not available
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Table 17.1 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity (XLS 14KB)

Interactive table: Statbank link

The total value of goods exports has increased by 32% between 2014 and 2017, an increase of €29,935 million. Imports have increased by €16,906 million or 27% over the same period.

Exports of Chemicals and related products increased by €16,253 million to €67,822 million, and comprised 55% of all goods exports in 2017. Exports of Food and live animals grew from €9,350 million to €11,375 million between 2014 and 2017, an increase of 22%.

Imports of Machinery and transport equipment increased from €23,580 million to €32,005 million (36%) between 2014 and 2017.

	Food and live animals	Beverages and tobacco	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	Chemicals and related products	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	Machinery and transport equipment	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	Unclassified estimates
Exports	11.375321020407	1.36255499964179	1.81482714160601	0.992190022565726	0.0913498457262987	67.8217906293752	2.27739051962675	20.937806005906	14.8604397371608	0.389372273006716	0.628127575976085
Imports	7.18322258251299	0.906741160952981	0.903431590278045	4.68062864300109	0.259781080254985	17.4808074291596	5.060497546935	32.005297872393	8.29999658718566	0.433679827344996	1.84874867726798

Goods Exports classified by country

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17.2 Goods Exports classified by country

The USA is Ireland’s largest export partner, accounting for €33,219 million of goods in 2017, or 27% of total exports. Great Britain is the largest export market in the EU, accounting for €14,504 million of goods in 2017.

Including exports to Northern Ireland, the UK comprised €16,432 million of exports in 2017. While the value of exports to the UK has increased by €2,690 million since 2014, the share of total exports to the UK has fallen from 15% to just over 13%.

Goods Imports classified by country

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17.3 Goods Imports classified by country

Ireland imported 59% of its total goods from the EU in 2017. Imports from the EU have increased by 21% between 2014 and 2017, although the share of total imports has fallen from 62% to 59%.

The single largest supplier was Great Britain, from whom €17,493 million, or 22% of all goods, was imported. Imports from the USA were €16,233 million in 2017, an increase of €7,090 million, or 78% since 2014.

Concentration of value of traders 2016

Table 17.4 Concentration of value of traders 2016
Enterprises	Exports		Imports
	€million		€million
	Value	% of total	Value	% of total
Top 5	36,682	31	8,798	12
Top 10	56,635	48	14,393	20
Top 50	87,787	74	31,701	43
Top 100	97,504	82	39,195	54
Top 500	111,377	94	54,513	74
Total	118,230	100	73,204	100
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Table 17.4 Concentration of value of traders 2016 (XLS 12KB)

The Top 5 highest value exporters accounted for over €36 billion or 31% of all exports in 2016. The top 50 enterprises exported 74% of total goods, equal to €87.8 billion.

There is a greater concentration of large traders on the export side than on the import side. The top five importers accounted for €8.8 billion or 12% of total imports in 2016.

The top 50 importing enterprises had imports of €31.7 billion, or 43% of the total.

X-axis label	Exports	Imports
Top 5	31.0259696602486	12.0188039072532
Top 10	47.9019986111344	19.6620834298959
Top 50	74.2507855215427	43.3045901640016
Top 100	82.4699123024323	53.5426883065106
Top 500	94.2037768684396	74.4678884356568
Total	100	100

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Table 17.2 Goods Exports classified by country
€m
Country	Exports
	Exports
	2014	2015	2016	2017
Austria	360	419	369	377
Belgium	11,805	14,542	14,617	13,335
Bulgaria	69	97	80	85
Croatia¹	29	33	38	38
Cyprus	19	40	33	25
Czech Republic	481	410	369	415
Denmark	594	605	615	649
Estonia	18	26	42	23
Finland	317	302	257	327
France	4,952	4,877	5,069	5,345
Germany	6,081	7,477	8,025	10,104
Great Britain	12,137	13,810	13,380	14,504
Greece	274	290	282	330
Hungary	247	320	297	290
Italy	2,113	2,546	2,415	2,611
Latvia	55	58	59	64
Lithuania	37	36	34	24
Luxembourg	81	66	67	120
Malta	24	40	44	32
Netherlands	4,143	4,986	5,895	5,925
Northern Ireland	1,605	1,744	1,655	1,928
Poland	963	1,187	1,371	1,329
Portugal	354	407	423	456
Romania	360	346	278	314
Slovakia	58	75	77	59
Slovenia	37	46	92	84
Spain	2,788	4,021	2,972	2,596
Sweden	902	1,000	789	759
EU country not specified²	33	36	378	714
Total EU	50,936	59,844	60,022	62,861
of which
United Kingdom	13,743	15,554	15,034	16,432
Euro-Zone	33,480	40,256	40,773	41,836

Australia	712	925	1,476	889
Brazil	256	243	228	182
Canada	722	891	936	1,091
China, Hong Kong and Macao	2,231	2,283	3,763	5,078
India	399	605	296	353
Japan	1,771	3,890	2,887	2,579
Malaysia	217	241	213	233
Russia	722	369	369	497
Switzerland	5,255	6,096	6,318	6,212
USA	20,762	26,861	31,898	33,219
Other countries	8,511	10,116	10,415	8,989
Country unknown³	122	44	470	368
Total non-EU	41,680	52,564	59,270	59,690

Total	92,616	112,407	119,292	122,551
¹Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013
²Includes estimates for traders below the intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified
³Trade for which the country of origin or country of final destination is unknown
Source: CSO

Table 17.3 Goods Imports classified by country
€m
Country	Imports
	Imports
	2014	2015	2016	2017
Austria	217	263	267	287
Belgium	1,133	1,284	1,370	1,394
Bulgaria	33	69	41	25
Croatia¹	5	10	28	11
Cyprus	2	3	3	4
Czech Republic	398	514	402	444
Denmark	419	452	510	433
Estonia	42	42	16	12
Finland	140	170	153	167
France	7,517	8,677	9,962	10,477
Germany	4,619	5,878	6,786	6,888
Great Britain	16,461	16,903	15,797	17,493
Greece	35	46	47	62
Hungary	124	111	146	163
Italy	950	1,199	1,443	1,607
Latvia	29	36	42	48
Lithuania	68	85	74	76
Luxembourg	39	40	30	28
Malta	8	14	11	9
Netherlands	2,654	2,667	2,616	2,428
Northern Ireland	1,104	1,091	1,075	1,283
Poland	441	537	576	627
Portugal	166	205	251	252
Romania	101	108	125	101
Slovakia	46	69	75	50
Slovenia	35	22	37	31
Spain	876	960	1,131	1,318
Sweden	509	493	453	512
EU country not specified²	289	446	401	195
Total EU	38,461	42,395	43,869	46,425
of which
United Kingdom	17,564	17,994	16,872	18,777
Euro-Zone	18,509	21,659	24,314	25,137

Australia	81	101	142	98
Brazil	535	474	422	222
Canada	373	478	517	642
China, Hong Kong and Macao	3,498	4,409	4,241	4,528
India	444	504	544	811
Japan	1,763	1,822	1,233	1,209
Malaysia	230	279	306	472
Russia	226	160	189	310
Switzerland	1,253	1,352	1,433	602
USA	9,143	10,922	13,966	16,233
Other countries	5,686	6,483	6,274	6,450
Country unknown³	464	732	994	1,060
Total Non-EU	23,697	27,716	30,261	32,638

Total	62,157	70,111	74,131	79,063
¹Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013
²Includes estimates for traders below the intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified
³Trade for which the country of origin or country of final destination is unknown
Source: CSO

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Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2018

Trade

Goods Exports and Imports summary analysis

Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity

Goods Exports classified by country

Goods Imports classified by country

Concentration of value of traders 2016

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