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Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2019

Trade

€31bn

The value of the Top 5 exporters or 26% of total exports in 2017

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	112.4073	70.111	42.2963
2016	119.2922	74.2367	45.0554
2017	122.7847	82.9557	39.829
2018	140.7095	91.9038	48.8056

Between 1975 and 2018 the value of goods exported rose from €1,838 million to €140,710 million. The value of imports rose from €2,164 million to €91,904 million. The year 2018 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 €48,806 million in 2018.

The value of exports in 2018 increased by 14.6% or €17,925 million over 2017, while imports grew by €8,948 million over the same period.

Interactive table: StatBank link

Link to release: Goods Exports and Imports

Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity

Table 17.1 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity
€million
SITC (Rev 4)		Exports				Imports
		Exports				Imports
		2015	2016	2017	2018	2015	2016	2017	2018
0	Food and live animals	9,878	10,096	11,375	11,192	6,687	6,689	7,188	7,797
1	Beverages and tobacco	1,287	1,333	1,364	1,441	876	914	908	905
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	1,771	1,529	1,815	1,921	855	824	907	938
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	773	691	993	1,199	5,104	3,882	4,770	6,007
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	57	78	91	65	245	245	260	276
5	Chemicals and related products	64,224	66,385	67,834	85,757	13,978	14,963	17,501	19,872
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	2,105	2,144	2,284	2,318	4,698	4,751	5,064	5,382
7	Machinery and transport equipment	16,808	21,420	21,177	19,918	27,891	31,581	35,832	39,651
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	14,299	14,645	14,885	15,734	8,166	8,253	8,317	8,753
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	562	336	390	465	337	374	434	492
Unclassified estimates¹		643	632	578	699	1,275	1,761	1,774	1,831

Total		112,407	119,292	122,785	140,709	70,111	74,237	82,956	91,904
¹Estimates for which a commodity classification is not available
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2019 Table 17.1 (XLS 12KB)

The total value of goods exports has increased by 25% between 2015 and 2018, an increase of €28,302 million. Imports have increased by €21,793 million or 31% over the same period.

Exports of Chemicals and related products increased by €21,533 million to €85,757 million between 2015 and 2018, and comprised 61% of all goods exports in 2018. Exports of Food and live animals grew from €9,878 million to €11,192 million between 2015 and 2018, an increase of 13%.

Imports of Machinery and transport equipment increased from €27,891 million to €39,651 million (42%) between 2015 and 2018.

Interactive table: Statbank link

Link to release: Goods Exports and Imports

	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	11.1924354455839	1.44054320201411	1.92050048218419	1.19921908034485	0.0650410629699378	85.7570682550022	2.31847567435684	19.9181616301838	15.7335243573083	0.465034492710818	0.699471399482115
Imports	7.79699468573377	0.904701190584778	0.937735194402603	6.00702750720162	0.276326584938777	19.8720795837271	5.38199290154994	39.6512906645246	8.75318710188005	0.491975106933294	1.83051785089371

Goods Exports classified by country

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Table 17.2 Goods Exports classified by country

The USA is Ireland’s largest export partner, accounting for €39,268 million of goods in 2018, or 28% of total exports. Belgium is the largest export market in the EU, accounting for €18,246 million of goods in 2018.

Exports to Great Britain were €14,070 million in 2018. While the value of exports to Great Britain has increased by €260 million since 2015, the share of total exports has fallen from 12% to 10%.

Interactive table: Statbank link

Link to release: Goods Exports and Imports

Goods Imports classified by country

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Table 17.3 Goods Imports classified by country

Ireland imported 59% of its total goods from the EU in 2018. Imports from the EU have increased by 28% between 2015 and 2018, although the share of total imports has fallen from 60% to 59%.

The single largest supplier was Great Britain, from whom €18,424 million, or 20% of all goods, was imported. Imports from the USA were €16,962 million in 2018, an increase of €6,040 million, or 55% since 2015.

Interactive table: Statbank

Link to release: Goods Exports and Imports

Concentration of value of traders 2017

Table 17.4 Concentration of value of traders 2017
Enterprises	Exports		Imports
	€ million		€ million
	Value	% of total	Value	% of total
Top 5	31,471	26	12,893	16
Top 10	48,889	40	19,064	23
Top 50	87,413	72	38,979	47
Top 100	97,808	80	47,331	57
Top 500	112,868	93	64,224	78
Total	121,759	100	82,595	100
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2019 Table 17.4 (XLS 10KB)

The Top 5 highest value exporters accounted for over €31 billion or 26% of all exports in 2017. The top 50 enterprises exported 72% of total goods, equal to €87.4 billion.

There is a greater concentration of large traders on the export side than on the import side. The top five importers accounted for €12.9 billion or 16% of total imports in 2017.

The top 50 importing enterprises had imports of €39 billion, or 47% of the total.

X-axis label	Exports	Imports
Top 5	25.8469797119572	15.610003506594
Top 10	40.151827243708	23.0809374072766
Top 50	71.7917725904967	47.1931753216963
Top 100	80.3287341223279	57.3046195696651
Top 500	92.6975276505526	77.7576781904402

Link to release: Trade by Enterprise Characteristics

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Table 17.2 Goods Exports classified by country
€million
Country	Exports
	Exports
	2015	2016	2017	2018
Austria	419	369	388	418
Belgium	14,542	14,617	13,331	18,246
Bulgaria	97	80	85	105
Croatia	33	38	38	48
Cyprus	40	33	25	23
Czech Republic	410	369	416	570
Denmark	605	615	655	733
Estonia	26	42	23	21
Finland	302	257	312	290
France	4,877	5,069	5,346	5,388
Germany	7,477	8,025	9,437	10,545
Great Britain	13,810	13,380	14,336	14,070
Greece	290	282	331	503
Hungary	320	297	292	337
Italy	2,546	2,415	2,623	3,639
Latvia	58	59	63	85
Lithuania	36	34	23	31
Luxembourg	66	67	124	185
Malta	40	44	32	124
Netherlands	4,986	5,895	5,934	7,709
Northern Ireland	1,744	1,655	1,935	2,034
Poland	1,187	1,371	1,329	1,163
Portugal	407	423	457	440
Romania	346	278	313	342
Slovakia	75	77	58	80
Slovenia	46	92	84	84
Spain	4,021	2,972	2,542	2,511
Sweden	1,000	789	767	924
EU country not specified¹	36	378	1613	150
Total EU	59,844	60,022	62,912	70,798
of which United Kingdom	15,554	15,034	16,270	16,104
Euro-Zone	40,257	40,773	41,135	50,321

Australia	925	1,476	889	832
Brazil	243	228	182	293
Canada	891	936	1,091	1,351
China, Hong Kong and Macao	2,283	3,763	5,057	5,472
India	605	296	353	328
Japan	3,890	2,887	2,332	3,325
Malaysia	241	213	195	208
Mexico	1,394	1,358	1,427	1,416
Norway	299	255	395	349
Russia	369	369	497	521
Saudi Arabia	999	816	705	553
Singapore	607	629	685	700
South Africa	270	229	243	276
South Korea	518	930	635	591
Switzerland	6,096	6,318	6,212	6,478
Taiwan	170	217	267	319
Thailand	219	206	165	150
Turkey	642	521	507	565
USA	26,861	31,898	33,284	39,268
Other countries	4,997	5,253	3,946	3,956
Country unknown²	43	470	805	2,961
Total non-EU	52,563	59,270	59,873	69,912

Total	112,407	119,292	122,785	140,709
¹Includes estimates for traders below the intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified
²Trade for which the country of origin or country of final destination is unknown
Source: CSO

Table 17.3 Goods Imports classified by country
€million
Country	Imports
	Imports
	2015	2016	2017	2018
Austria	263	267	287	325
Belgium	1,284	1,370	1,393	1,644
Bulgaria	69	41	25	47
Croatia	10	28	11	13
Cyprus	3	3	4	22
Czech Republic	514	402	444	729
Denmark	452	510	434	506
Estonia	42	16	12	19
Finland	170	153	168	155
France	8,677	9,962	13,158	11,493
Germany	5,878	6,786	6,672	10,588
Great Britain	16,903	15,797	17,510	18,424
Greece	46	47	62	68
Hungary	111	146	163	353
Italy	1,199	1,443	1,567	1,580
Latvia	36	42	47	49
Lithuania	85	74	76	111
Luxembourg	40	30	28	62
Malta	14	11	9	10
Netherlands	2,667	2,616	2,441	2,994
Northern Ireland	1,091	1,182	1,375	1,493
Poland	537	576	627	682
Portugal	205	251	252	199
Romania	108	125	102	93
Slovakia	69	75	50	57
Slovenia	22	37	31	27
Spain	960	1,131	1,316	1,447
Sweden	493	453	513	685
EU country not specified¹	446	401	371	513
Total EU	42,395	43,976	49,149	54,388
of which United Kingdom	17,994	16,979	18,886	19,917
Euro-Zone	21,659	24,314	27,573	30,851

Australia	101	142	99	106
Brazil	474	422	222	245
Canada	478	517	642	530
China, Hong Kong and Macao	4,409	4,241	4,529	5,425
India	504	544	683	562
Japan	1,822	1,233	1,209	1,447
Malaysia	279	306	323	428
Mexico	364	350	268	351
Norway	1,204	1,129	1,131	987
Russia	160	189	313	557
Saudi Arabia	26	20	8	18
Singapore	421	393	168	445
South Africa	94	94	102	115
South Korea	583	892	910	857
Switzerland	1,352	1,433	602	727
Taiwan	368	347	297	376
Thailand	572	446	385	438
Turkey	496	495	572	611
USA	10,922	13,966	17,091	16,962
Other countries	2,355	2,108	2,276	2,423
Country unknown²	732	994	1,979	3,907
Total non-EU	27,716	30,261	33,807	37,516

Total	70,111	74,237	82,956	91,904
¹Includes estimates for traders below the intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified
²Trade for which the country of origin or country of final destination is unknown
Source: CSO

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Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2019

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 2017

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