CSO: Trade figures show improvement
Trade figures for January to June this year show an increase in exports and a fall in imports, according to the Central Statistics Office.
The figures for the period show a 4% overall increase in exports, while provisional figures for July suggest an increase of 4% on the July 2003 level.
Imports for July 2004 decreased by 2%, giving a surplus of €2.9bn for the month.
The Minister for Trade and Commerce, Michael Ahern, gave a cautious welcome to the trade figures saying: “The figures show that the recovery in exports evident since the beginning of this year is continuing.”
Mr Ahern noted that since the enlargement of the EU on May 1, Ireland’s exports to the EU account for 62% of the total.
Exports to the ten new Member States increased marginally by 1% over the period January – June 2003, while exports to the pre-enlargement EU countries increased by 6.7%.
Exports to Germany declined, while the proportion of exports going to the UK continued to fall to 17% of the total.
Exports to Belgium showed an increase of 36%, whereas exports to Ireland’s major EU trade partners (France, Italy and Spain) increased slightly - however, export figures for the Netherlands showed a slight decrease on 2003 figures.
Mr Ahern said: “While the slight decrease in exports to some of our major EU partners is disappointing, this reflects the continuing slow growth in these economies.
“The EU, however, continues to be of crucial importance for our exporters, and these figures show that there remains considerable potential for further growth with our EU partners, particularly with regard to the new EU Member States.”
Exports to non-EU destinations fell by 0.2% for the period January to June 2004, reflecting a slight decrease of just under 2% in exports to the USA, now our largest export market.
The Minister pointed out that the continuing low value of the dollar against the euro may be a factor in the decrease in exports to the USA.
Exports to Asia (China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), India, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand) increased from €2883.6bn to €3191.6bn (10.6%) for the period January – June.
China (+18%), Hong Kong (+37%), Japan (+10%), Singapore (+11%) and South Korea (+10%) all showed strong growth.
Mr Ahern said: “I am pleased to see that Irish exporters are performing well in a sometimes difficult global marketplace, as export growth is crucial to our economic performance. The figures clearly show diversity and dynamism in the exporting sector which will continue to build on progress made during the first half of this year.”
