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E-mail: Trade@cso.ie Norita Murphy +353 1 4984295 Damian Malone +353 1 4984206

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information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-5155

CSO statistical release, 15 May 2015, 11am

Goods Exports and Imports

March 2015

Seasonally adjusted
€ million
	Exports	Imports	Surplus
October 2014	7,562	4,679	2,883
November 2014	7,084	5,095	1,988
December 2014	8,794	4,490	4,304
January 2015	8,287	4,451	3,836
February 2015	8,530	4,731	3,798
March 2015	8,366	4,941	3,425

Decrease in seasonally adjusted trade surplus in March

Goods Exports and Imports seasonally adjusted

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Preliminary figures for March 2015 show that seasonally adjusted exports decreased by €164 million (-2%) to €8,366 million from February. Coupled with an increase in seasonally adjusted imports for March of €210 million (+4%), the seasonally adjusted trade surplus decreased by €373 million (-10%) to €3,425 million in March (see Table 2).

Highest value of exports since May 2002

The value of exports for March 2015 was €9,065 million representing an increase of €1,564 million (+21%) when compared with March 2014. The last time the value of exports was above €9 billion was in May 2002 (€9,122 million). The main driver behind the March 2015 increase was the increase in the exports of Medical and pharmaceutical products of €1,003 million (+58%).

The EU accounted for €5,090 million (56%) of total exports in March 2015 of which 13% went to Great Britain. The USA was the main non-EU destination accounting for 23% (€2,107 million) of total exports in March 2015.

Imports of Medical and pharmaceutical products up

The value of imports for March 2015 was €5,476 million representing an increase of €681 million (+14%) when compared with March 2014. This is the highest value of imports since November 2007 (€6,008 million). During March 2015 imports of Medical and pharmaceutical products increased by €198 million (+53%) to €569 million and Miscellaneous manufactured articles increased by €146 million (+27%) to €687 million.

The EU accounted for 57% of the value of imports in March 2015, with 25% of total imports coming from Great Britain. The USA (13%) and China (7%) were the main non-EU sources of imports.

For the first quarter of 2015, exports increased by €3,704 million (+17%) to €24,958 million and imports increased by €1,405 million (+10%) to €14,819 million when compared with the first quarter of 2014.

Show Table 1 Goods Exports and Imports summary analysis

Table 1 Goods Exports and Imports summary analysis
Period		Value			Volume index¹		Unit value index¹
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		€m	€m	€m	Exports	Imports	Exports	Imports	Terms of trade²
		€m	€m	€m	Exports	Imports	Exports	Imports	Terms of trade²
1990		18,204	15,832	2,372	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
1991		19,070	16,317	2,753	105.6	100.8	99.3	102.3	97.0
1992		21,260	16,754	4,506	121.1	105.6	96.6	100.2	96.4
1993		25,179	18,900	6,279	133.4	113.0	103.9	105.4	98.6
1994		28,891	21,945	6,946	153.2	127.9	103.8	108.1	96.0
1995		35,330	26,181	9,149	184.0	146.3	105.7	112.7	93.7
1996		38,609	28,479	10,130	202.2	160.9	105.1	111.4	94.3
1997		44,868	32,863	12,004	232.4	184.8	106.3	112.0	94.9
1998		57,322	39,715	17,607	289.2	218.3	109.1	114.6	95.2
1999		66,956	44,327	22,629	336.5	236.5	109.5	118.0	92.8
2000		83,889	55,909	27,980	401.4	275.2	115.0	128.0	89.9
2001		92,690	57,384	35,306	422.0	274.2	120.9	131.8	91.7
2002		93,675	55,628	38,047	435.1	276.6	118.5	126.7	93.5
2003		82,076	47,865	34,212	418.4	259.7	108.0	116.1	93.0
2004		84,410	51,105	33,304	446.5	283.6	104.0	113.5	91.7
2005		86,732	57,465	29,267	456.7	316.3	104.5	114.4	91.3
2006		86,772	60,857	25,915	458.0	325.2	104.4	117.7	88.7
2007		89,226	63,486	25,741	481.8	340.9	101.9	117.3	86.9
2008		86,394	57,585	28,810	484.5	300.5	98.0	119.7	81.9
2009		85,804	45,061	40,742	468.4	249.2	98.9	113.9	86.8
2010		89,703	45,764	43,940	485.5	241.3	101.2	119.2	84.9
2011		91,228	48,302	42,925	507.9	240.8	99.7	126.4	78.8
2012		91,688	49,146	42,542	479.1	231.9	105.8	133.7	79.2
2013		86,999	50,025	36,974	460.6	238.8	103.9	131.6	78.9
2014		89,181	53,784	35,397	..	..	..	..	..

2014	Quarter 1	21,254	13,414	7,840	454.3	253.2	103.1	133.5	77.2
	Quarter 2	22,820	13,076	9,744	491.0	247.7	102.3	132.9	76.9
	Quarter 3	22,229	13,011	9,218	467.5	246.1	104.6	133.2	78.5
	Quarter 4	22,879	14,283	8,596	473.9	273.0	106.3	131.8	80.6
2015	Quarter 1	24,958	14,819	10,139	..	..	..	..	..

2014³	January	6,960	4,541	2,420	447.6	259.4	102.7	132.3	77.6
	February	6,792	4,079	2,714	427.8	228.5	104.9	134.9	77.7
	March	7,501	4,795	2,706	487.5	271.8	101.6	133.3	76.2
	April	7,060	4,298	2,762	461.9	244.5	100.9	132.8	76.0
	May	7,916	4,496	3,420	504.7	254.1	103.6	133.7	77.5
	June	7,844	4,282	3,562	506.4	244.5	102.3	132.3	77.3
	July	6,869	4,404	2,465	440.2	251.9	103.1	132.1	78.0
	August	7,428	4,101	3,327	468.2	232.2	104.8	133.5	78.5
	September	7,932	4,506	3,426	494.2	254.1	106.0	134.0	79.1
	October	7,619	4,744	2,875	477.2	272.0	105.4	131.8	80.0
	November	7,519	4,906	2,613	465.0	284.1	106.8	130.5	81.8
	December	7,741	4,633	3,108	479.6	262.9	106.6	133.1	80.1

2015³	January	7,951	4,772	3,179	..	..	..	..	..
	February	7,942	4,571	3,371	..	..	..	..	..
	March⁴	9,065	5,476	3,589	..	..	..	..	..
¹Monthly data have been rescaled to make their average equal to the annual.
²Export unit value index divided by Import unit value index.
³Revised, see background notes.
⁴March 2015 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
. . Indices are not yet available.

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Show Table 2 Goods Exports and Imports seasonally adjusted series

Table 2 Goods Exports and Imports seasonally adjusted¹series
Period		Value			Volume index
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		€m	€m	€m	Exports	Imports

2013	Quarter 1	21,181	11,682	9,499	442.4	225.6
	Quarter 2	21,567	12,318	9,249	452.2	233.5
	Quarter 3	22,302	12,845	9,456	475.8	242.4
	Quarter 4	22,110	13,264	8,846	468.6	250.2
2014	Quarter 1	21,299	12,729	8,569	453.5	242.3
	Quarter 2	22,457	13,160	9,297	487.3	248.6
	Quarter 3	22,324	13,791	8,533	469.2	258.7
	Quarter 4	23,439	14,264	9,175	483.1	272.8
2015	Quarter 1	25,183	14,123	11,060	..	..

2013	January	6,791	3,978	2,813	423.4	236.5
	February	6,976	3,898	3,078	444.0	222.9
	March	7,414	3,806	3,609	459.7	217.4
	April	7,351	4,062	3,288	457.4	230.4
	May	7,086	4,027	3,060	446.0	230.0
	June	7,131	4,229	2,902	453.3	240.2
	July	7,333	4,245	3,088	469.8	234.8
	August	7,671	4,482	3,190	488.7	257.0
	September	7,297	4,119	3,178	469.0	235.5
	October	7,349	4,400	2,949	467.1	244.7
	November	7,032	4,543	2,489	445.4	258.7
	December	7,729	4,321	3,409	493.2	247.2
2014	January	7,145	4,131	3,014	462.3	239.5
	February	7,237	4,079	3,158	450.8	231.6
	March	6,917	4,520	2,397	447.3	255.9
	April	6,827	4,038	2,789	452.4	232.5
	May	7,929	4,761	3,168	505.8	263.0
	June	7,701	4,361	3,340	503.7	250.2
	July	6,584	4,675	1,909	424.0	265.2
	August	8,016	4,605	3,411	506.1	256.9
	September	7,723	4,511	3,213	477.4	254.0
	October	7,562	4,679	2,883	465.6	264.9
	November	7,084	5,095	1,988	441.5	297.3
	December	8,794	4,490	4,304	542.2	256.2

2015	January	8,287	4,451	3,836	..	..
	February	8,530	4,731	3,798	..	..
	March	8,366	4,941	3,425	..	..
¹Based on seasonal patterns up to December 2014. Accordingly all values in this table may have been revised.

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Show Table 3 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity

Table 3 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity¹
										€million
SITC (Rev 4)			Exports				Imports
			Exports				Imports
			Mar	Mar	Jan-Mar	Jan-Mar	Mar	Mar	Jan-Mar	Jan-Mar
			2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015
0	Food and live animals		759	837	2,155	2,229	504	561	1,505	1,590
	00	Live animals other than animals of Division 03	23	19	67	67	5	13	49	46
	01	Meat and meat preparations	277	315	769	821	73	80	201	228
	02	Dairy products and birds' eggs	147	135	391	351	66	62	194	181
	03	Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and preparations thereof	47	47	153	141	22	23	60	64
	04	Cereals and cereal preparations	29	30	78	94	80	84	233	249
	05	Vegetables and fruit	23	26	61	67	87	96	258	262
	06	Sugars, sugar preparations and honey	9	9	27	26	28	34	85	92
	07	Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices and manufactures thereof	33	28	102	80	39	43	106	129
	08	Feeding stuff for animals (excl. unmilled cereals)	22	31	61	79	68	77	212	207
	09	Miscellaneous edible products and preparations	150	197	446	503	36	48	107	132
1	Beverages and tobacco		83	93	239	274	65	66	164	165
	11	Beverages	77	89	224	261	56	59	143	144
	12	Tobacco and tobacco manufactures	6	4	15	13	10	7	21	20
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels		150	174	429	470	74	76	180	203
	21	Hides, skins and furskins, raw	16	13	41	41	0	0	0	0
	22	Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits	0	1	1	2	2	3	6	9
	23	Crude rubber (incl. synthetic and reclaimed)	0	0	1	0	1	1	4	5
	24	Cork and wood	13	13	35	38	11	13	29	36
	25	Pulp and waste paper	4	4	14	13	7	5	13	13
	26	Textile fibres and their wastes	11	12	32	36	2	1	4	5
	27	Crude fertilisers and minerals (excl. coal, petroleum and precious stones)	12	15	39	38	10	11	27	28
	28	Metalliferous ores and metal scrap	84	104	239	269	21	21	49	56
	29	Crude animal and vegetable materials nes	9	11	27	33	20	20	47	51
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials		97	43	203	136	603	560	1,833	1,489
	32	Coal, coke and briquettes	9	7	23	23	20	21	43	54
	33	Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials	85	30	174	98	454	419	1,374	1,071
	34	Gas, natural and manufactured	3	1	6	1	121	114	384	339
	35	Electric current	0	4	0	14	9	7	33	24
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes		6	4	15	14	17	22	51	60
	41	Animal oils and fats	5	4	13	12	1	1	3	4
	42	Fixed vegetable fats and oils	1	0	2	1	15	19	43	50
	43	Animal or vegetable fats and oils, processed; waxes	0	0	1	0	2	2	5	6
5	Chemicals and related products		4,404	5,502	12,558	15,362	1,271	1,367	3,105	3,571
	51	Organic chemicals	1,748	1,727	4,817	5,223	531	381	1,011	1,099
	52	Inorganic chemicals	10	23	37	58	16	22	46	62
	53	Dyeing, tanning and colouring materials	9	10	28	31	16	18	46	51
	54	Medical and pharmaceutical products	1,739	2,742	5,066	7,115	371	569	1,110	1,343
	55	Essential oils; perfume materials; toilet and cleansing preparations	570	663	1,657	1,948	93	108	252	296
	56	Fertilisers (other than those of Division 27)	0	0	1	1	67	73	146	192
	57	Plastics in primary forms	32	32	81	89	71	70	202	204
	58	Plastics in non-primary forms	34	38	105	115	42	49	120	130
	59	Chemical materials and products nes	263	266	767	783	64	77	172	194
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material		154	173	461	482	330	409	993	1,166
	61	Leather; leather manufactures nes; dressed furskins	5	3	8	9	2	2	4	6
	62	Rubber manufactures nes	5	6	15	17	25	29	73	79
	63	Cork and wood manufactures (excl. furniture)	20	18	60	59	16	21	46	55
	64	Paper, paperboard and articles thereof	13	12	39	34	67	74	199	209
	65	Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products	13	15	35	41	33	39	92	107
	66	Non-metallic mineral manufactures nes	30	35	75	94	31	41	94	118
	67	Iron and steel	11	14	34	37	44	53	144	148
	68	Non-ferrous metals	7	6	20	19	41	59	134	196
	69	Manufactures of metals nes	50	63	175	172	71	91	206	247
7	Machinery and transport equipment		870	1,070	2,313	2,678	1,190	1,523	3,487	4,125
	71	Power generating machinery and equipment	39	34	138	100	80	35	203	122
	72	Machinery specialised for particular industries	53	63	137	159	138	316	569	762
	73	Metalworking machinery	2	2	7	7	8	10	19	29
	74	General industrial machinery and equipment nes and parts nes	126	138	386	383	137	134	337	370
	75	Office machines and automatic data processing machines	381	435	897	966	209	281	677	811
	76	Telecommunications and sound equipment	57	90	151	211	92	130	264	331
	77	Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances nes and parts	156	254	438	689	170	205	501	586
	78	Road vehicles (incl. air-cushion vehicles)	24	24	65	67	269	289	755	936
	79	Other transport equipment	32	30	95	95	88	123	162	177
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles		887	1,075	2,614	3,043	541	687	1,523	1,865
	81	Prefab buildings; plumbing and electrical fixtures and fittings	9	11	30	36	16	19	46	57
	82	Furniture and parts thereof; bedding, cushions etc	11	15	39	41	30	40	87	107
	83	Travel goods, handbags and similar containers	1	2	3	5	8	11	24	30
	84	Articles of apparel; clothing accessories	17	21	47	65	133	158	357	422
	85	Footwear	2	3	8	9	27	35	74	101
	87	Professional, scientific and controlling apparatus nes	346	425	1,020	1,139	117	157	345	440
	88	Photographic apparatus; optical goods; watches and clocks	81	95	249	252	24	29	63	75
	89	Miscellaneous manufactured articles nes	420	503	1,219	1,495	185	237	526	635
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere		39	30	117	100	102	117	288	319
Unclassified estimates²			51	64	148	171	98	87	284	267

Total			7,501	9,065	21,254	24,958	4,795	5,476	13,414	14,819
¹March 2015 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
² Estimates for which a commodity classification is not available.

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Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports March 2015 Table 3 (XLS 23KB)

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Show Table 4 Goods Exports and Imports classified by country

Table 4 Goods Exports and Imports classified by country¹
								€million
Country	Exports				Imports
	Mar	Mar	Jan-Mar	Jan-Mar	Mar	Mar	Jan-Mar	Jan-Mar
	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015
Austria	24	39	77	110	18	18	50	52
Belgium	1,015	1,079	2,921	3,041	110	111	286	316
Bulgaria	5	10	14	24	1	5	9	41
Croatia	1	3	5	7	0	0	0	1
Cyprus	1	1	5	4	0	0	0	1
Czech Republic	36	35	118	115	33	37	108	117
Denmark	50	53	136	156	31	34	102	99
Estonia	2	3	5	7	3	4	4	18
Finland	27	28	81	80	11	13	33	33
France	382	431	1,024	1,215	261	206	598	573
Germany	496	651	1,388	1,700	331	475	1,077	1,329
Great Britain	1,145	1,198	2,894	3,127	1,426	1,383	4,210	3,959
Greece	17	23	64	78	3	6	8	11
Hungary	28	26	67	87	11	10	27	35
Italy	191	224	535	543	80	89	222	253
Latvia	1	4	6	11	4	4	7	8
Lithuania	3	4	8	9	9	13	19	31
Luxembourg	7	7	17	18	3	3	10	11
Malta	2	2	4	6	0	1	1	3
Netherlands	280	499	848	1,125	222	274	643	656
Northern Ireland	128	144	365	410	87	84	269	251
Poland	81	101	219	277	36	47	98	126
Portugal	30	143	84	201	12	14	35	36
Romania	30	31	88	86	8	8	20	30
Slovakia	5	6	13	16	3	10	16	28
Slovenia	4	4	9	9	5	2	17	6
Spain	163	270	606	760	86	81	221	253
Sweden	62	68	162	176	27	53	91	131
EU Country not specified²	1	6	5	19	107	127	303	343
Total EU	4,215	5,090	11,769	13,417	2,928	3,113	8,483	8,749
of which Euro-Zone³	2,646	3,417	7,687	8,932	1,151	1,325	3,227	3,616

Australia	50	82	151	199	8	6	26	23
Brazil	20	28	54	62	17	18	37	42
Canada	56	65	172	203	26	37	62	112
China⁴	120	193	413	500	255	359	761	1,007
India	28	33	61	73	34	39	103	111
Japan	134	175	468	404	122	330	509	697
Malaysia	13	19	41	62	18	24	56	61
Mexico	99	81	250	283	22	36	67	101
Norway	28	22	76	66	132	164	348	302
Russia	53	25	157	78	23	20	53	52
Saudi Arabia	66	84	150	255	0	1	2	1
Singapore	55	58	148	155	20	26	105	98
South Africa	24	24	95	57	5	9	15	21
South Korea	34	63	90	147	35	26	104	119
Switzerland	330	443	1,171	1,879	435	129	591	497
Taiwan	14	15	37	34	25	28	62	75
Thailand	9	21	35	54	31	46	94	123
Turkey	43	38	117	118	36	41	101	136
USA	1,819	2,107	4,910	5,829	449	686	1,307	1,651
Other countries	289	397	877	1,071	144	257	447	711
Country unknown⁵	1	1	11	9	30	81	83	128

Total	7,501	9,065	21,254	24,958	4,795	5,476	13,414	14,819
¹March 2015 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
²Includes estimates for traders below the Intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified.
³Euro-zone members from January 2015: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
⁴China includes Hong Kong and Macao.
⁵Trade for which the country of origin or country of final destination is unknown.

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Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports March 2015 Table 4 (XLS 19KB)

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Show Table 5 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity and principal countries

Table 5 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity and principal countries¹
									€million
		Exports				Imports
	Country by Section level of SITC	Mar	Mar	Jan-Mar	Jan-Mar	Mar	Mar	Jan-Mar	Jan-Mar
		2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015
Great Britain		1,145	1,198	2,894	3,127	1,426	1,383	4,210	3,959
0	Food and live animals	293	317	813	863	203	229	603	642
1	Beverages and tobacco	23	19	60	56	24	23	65	56
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	35	39	98	103	13	14	34	35
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	60	38	149	87	441	281	1,391	891
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	2	1	5	3	4	4	10	12
5	Chemicals and related products	380	385	867	965	175	202	495	553
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	69	75	193	218	129	152	389	429
7	Machinery and transport equipment	175	201	413	487	214	235	597	649
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	83	97	223	270	165	196	459	544
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	26	27	74	76	57	47	165	148
Other EU²		3,070	3,893	8,875	10,289	1,502	1,730	4,273	4,790
0	Food and live animals	300	312	800	807	216	229	624	683
1	Beverages and tobacco	21	29	66	83	31	31	73	79
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	72	104	222	271	25	26	64	67
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	7	5	23	34	29	31	59	112
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	4	3	10	10	10	14	31	37
5	Chemicals and related products	1,876	2,514	5,568	6,658	400	495	1,208	1,246
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	63	68	179	188	118	153	373	457
7	Machinery and transport equipment	381	413	982	975	420	465	1,118	1,313
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	315	402	936	1,154	121	142	352	392
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	30	42	89	111	132	144	371	403
USA		1,819	2,107	4,910	5,829	449	686	1,307	1,651
0	Food and live animals	9	11	37	41	17	20	67	43
1	Beverages and tobacco	26	32	74	96	2	2	3	3
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	3	4	7	10	4	4	10	10
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	30	0	30	13	12	22	23	34
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	-	-	-	-	0	0	0	0
5	Chemicals and related products	1,361	1,519	3,563	4,189	161	285	464	672
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	8	10	49	25	28	35	73	84
7	Machinery and transport equipment	85	154	251	412	149	215	455	546
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	294	376	890	1,038	73	98	201	248
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	3	1	8	4	3	4	11	12
China³		120	193	413	500	255	359	761	1,007
0	Food and live animals	33	61	108	149	2	4	7	10
1	Beverages and tobacco	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	8	9	24	28	4	4	9	11
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	-	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	0	1	0	0	-	0	0
5	Chemicals and related products	36	58	137	142	16	24	51	68
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	2	3	5	9	26	38	80	110
7	Machinery and transport equipment	22	28	84	83	126	182	369	504
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	17	34	53	88	78	103	233	294
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	0	0	0	0	3	3	11	10
Rest of World		1,348	1,674	4,162	5,212	1,163	1,318	2,863	3,412
0	Food and live animals	123	136	397	368	65	78	204	212
1	Beverages and tobacco	13	13	38	38	9	11	22	26
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	32	19	79	57	29	28	63	79
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	0	1	1	1	121	226	360	452
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	0	0	0	3	4	9	11
5	Chemicals and related products	752	1,027	2,422	3,409	518	361	887	1,032
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	11	17	35	43	28	31	77	86
7	Machinery and transport equipment	207	273	584	721	280	425	948	1,113
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	177	165	511	493	104	148	278	388
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	31	23	94	80	5	5	13	14

Total		7,501	9,065	21,254	24,958	4,795	5,476	13,414	14,819
¹ March 2015 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
²Includes estimates for traders below the Intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified.
³ China includes Hong Kong and Macao.

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Background Notes

Introduction

Goods Exports and Imports statistics 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. The collection of trade data is the responsibility of VIMA (a branch of Revenue). The CSO is responsible for processing and disseminating the data.

Revisions

Trade figures are subject to revision on the incorporation of late Intrastat and VAT returns and corrections made by traders. When the preliminary results for a month are published, the results for months -1 (February 2015 in this publication), -4 (November 2014) and -8 (July 2014) are revised.

Intrastat System

The Intrastat system has two components. Firstly, the Intrastat survey (conducted by the Revenue Commissioners), in which traders, above the Intrastat survey trade thresholds, make detailed monthly returns giving information on the quantity and value of all exports to or imports from EU countries.

The total number of traders required to make a detailed import return is around 6,700 while around 1,900 must make a detailed export return. The response rate in terms of number of traders in March 2015 was 65%, covering an estimated 92% of the total value of intra-EU trade (these response rates will have increased by the next time data for March is published).

The second component of the Intrastat system is the regular VAT return, on which all traders are required to record the total value of goods imported from and exported to other EU countries. This information provides the basis for determining total EU trade for those traders below the Intrastat survey thresholds. It is also used to maintain the register of EU traders.

Extrastat System

The statistics of trade with non-EU countries are compiled from the documents supplied by importers and exporters to the Customs authorities. The document is the Single Administrative Document (SAD) used for Customs clearance purposes.

Estimation

The figures in this release include estimates for traders above the Intrastat thresholds who did not make detailed returns for the period and for traders below the thresholds who did not provide aggregate intra-EU trade figures on their VAT returns.

Estimates for Intrastat non-respondents are apportioned to individual commodities and countries whenever previous Intrastat returns are available. Estimates for traders below the Intrastat thresholds are assigned to partner country where possible, but not to commodity.

Imports incorporate an upward adjustment of 1.75% of total imports, which is included in ‘Unclassified estimates’. This special adjustment arises from the difficulty of comprehensively covering all EU imports through the Intrastat survey system. The unclassified category also includes certain miscellaneous adjustments.

More information is now being processed on lower value transactions. Prior to January 2012, transactions below €254 were grouped together, this value has now decreased to €127. Therefore, this has resulted in more detail being available at commodity level in Table 3 and at country level in Tables 4 and 5.

Unit Value Indices

The monthly unit value index measures monthly unit value trends relative to the annual levels in the preceding year using value weights relating to that year’s trade (Laspeyres index).

The annual index is compiled using value weights for both the current and previous year (Fisher index) to allow for change in the structure of trade in goods.

The monthly index series should be regarded as interim measures suitable for month-to-month comparisons within a given year. Previous monthly indices are revised when late returns are received.

When the annual unit value index is compiled, the monthly unit value indices are rescaled to make their average equal to the annual index.

Seasonally Adjusted Series

Monthly exports, imports, trade surplus and the volume series for exports and imports have been seasonally adjusted using the US Bureau of the Census X-11 Variant of the Census Method 11 Seasonal Adjustment Program. In the main, monthly projections are based on series recalculated at the end of the previous year.

Methodology

There are methodological differences between the measurement of exports and imports in this release compared with Industrial Production, National Accounts and Balance of Payments statistics. This release records the movement of all goods over the frontier at the valuation placed on the goods at the time of crossing the frontier. Industrial Production, National Accounts and Balance of Payments statistics take account of additional aspects of cross-frontier activities such as goods sent abroad for processing where goods cross the frontier without change of ownership. The CSO releases for those statistics provide more information on their methodology.

Services Exports and Imports

The quarterly Balance of Payments (BOP) statistics provide detail on Services exports and imports.

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Goods Exports and Imports

March 2015

Decrease in seasonally adjusted trade surplus in March

Background Notes

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