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The US was Ireland’s largest export partner in 2024, with €73.5 billion in exports. This accounted for 39% of Ireland’s total exports. Medical and pharmaceutical products and organic chemicals comprised €53.6 billion, or 73% of total exports to the US.
The second biggest export partner was the Netherlands, with €23 billion of exports, followed by the UK with €20.7 billion. Exports of medical and pharmaceutical products and organic chemicals to the Netherlands and the UK were valued at €13.8 billion, and €3.1 billion respectively.
Germany with exports valued at €20 billion and Belgium with exports valued at €17 billion were in Ireland’s remaining top 5 export markets.
| X-axis label | value of exports |
|---|---|
| US | 73.511907 |
| Netherlands | 22.916457 |
| UK | 20.653074 |
| Germany | 20.127307 |
| Belgium | 17.079716 |
| China | 9.435603 |
| Italy | 6.972036 |
| France | 6.362409 |
| Spain | 5.225617 |
| Canada | 4.08821 |
The US was Ireland’s largest import partner in 2024. It accounted for 22% of total imports with a value of €23 billion. Imports of machinery and transport equipment from the US were €11.8 billion, while imports of medical and pharmaceutical products and organic chemicals comprised €4.6 billion.
The UK was the second largest import partner in 2024 and represented 21% of total imports, valued at €21.6 billion. Imports of chemicals and related products from the UK were valued at €4.2 billion and food and live animal imports were valued at €4.1 billion. Imports of machinery & transport equipment were €3.5 billion while imports of mineral fuels, lubricants & related materials were also valued at €3.5 billion.
France, Germany and China made up the remaining top 5 import markets, with imports valued at €14.2 billion, €12.4 billion and €11.8 billion.
| X-axis label | Value of Imports |
|---|---|
| US | 22.995925 |
| UK | 21.658227 |
| France | 14.231246 |
| Germany | 12.377107 |
| China | 11.768417 |
| Netherlands | 6.769374 |
| Israel | 3.818064 |
| Italy | 3.050328 |
| Belgium | 2.852333 |
| Switzerland | 2.757395 |
Ireland has had a goods trade surplus (more exports than imports) since 1985, when the surplus was €400m. It peaked in 2024 when the surplus was €89 billion. The second highest surplus at €75 billion was in 2020.
| X-axis label | Exports | Imports | Trade Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 3.762464 | 4.714663 | -0.952199 |
| 1979 | 4.415819 | 6.107341 | -1.691522 |
| 1980 | 5.183701 | 6.882876 | -1.699175 |
| 1981 | 6.06626 | 8.352853 | -2.286593 |
| 1982 | 7.22664 | 8.654732 | -1.428092 |
| 1983 | 8.816854 | 9.353875 | -0.537021000000001 |
| 1984 | 11.297526 | 11.316122 | -0.0185960000000005 |
| 1985 | 12.371105 | 11.97134 | 0.399765 |
| 1986 | 11.902921 | 10.94678 | 0.956140999999999 |
| 1987 | 13.616033 | 11.624714 | 1.991319 |
| 1988 | 15.623932 | 12.970064 | 2.653868 |
| 1989 | 18.534417 | 15.597798 | 2.936619 |
| 1990 | 18.203873 | 15.832132 | 2.371741 |
| 1991 | 19.070091 | 16.317157 | 2.752934 |
| 1992 | 21.260239 | 16.754067 | 4.506172 |
| 1993 | 25.178525 | 18.89967 | 6.278855 |
| 1994 | 28.890858 | 21.945391 | 6.945467 |
| 1995 | 35.330081 | 26.180856 | 9.149225 |
| 1996 | 38.608926 | 28.479463 | 10.129463 |
| 1997 | 44.867973 | 32.863488 | 12.004485 |
| 1998 | 57.321818 | 39.714995 | 17.606823 |
| 1999 | 66.956209 | 44.327064 | 22.629145 |
| 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 | 28.7101 |
| 2006 | 87.4967 | 63.8331 | 23.6636 |
| 2007 | 90.5797 | 65.9393 | 24.6404 |
| 2008 | 88.5031 | 59.3356 | 29.1675 |
| 2009 | 87.5855 | 48.2033 | 39.3822 |
| 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 | 119.292154 | 74.296314 | 44.99584 |
| 2017 | 122.784794 | 82.943184 | 39.84161 |
| 2018 | 140.64497 | 91.991089 | 48.653881 |
| 2019 | 152.533998 | 91.019065 | 61.514933 |
| 2020 | 162.131082 | 87.065433 | 75.065649 |
| 2021 | 165.715114 | 103.788491 | 61.926623 |
| 2022 | 208.76264 | 141.037426 | 67.725214 |
| 2023 | 196.029747 | 140.294493 | 55.735254 |
| 2024 | 223.733966 | 134.655571 | 89.078395 |
Figure 1.3 was revised on 02 April 2026. This was to correct the x-axis labels which originally displayed 1979 to 2025 but was updated to display 1978 to 2024. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
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