Ireland records EU's second highest trade surplus
Latest figures from Eurostat show that Ireland recorded the second highest trade surplus in the EU after Germany for the period January to November 2010.
During that period, Irish exports rose by 5% to €81.2bn while imports dropped by 1% to €40.9bn, giving a trade surplus of €40.3bn.
This represents a rise of €4.4bn over January to November 2009 when the total trade surplus was €35.9bn.
Ireland had however the lowest export growth (5%) behind Greece (6%) and Denmark (9%). Luxembourg is lower but distorted for various reasons.
Imports dropped only in Ireland (-1%) and Greece (-22%).
The United Kingdom (-€105.4 bn) registered the largest deficit, followed by France (-€57.4bn), Spain (-€46.5bn), Italy (-€24.5bn), Greece (-€21bn), Portugal (-€18.1bn) and Poland (-€11.9bn).
The first estimate for the euro area (EA16) trade balance with the rest of the world in December 2010 gave a €0.5bn deficit, compared with +€3.2bn in December 2009.
During 2010, euro area trade recorded a surplus of €0.7bn, compared with +€16.6bn in 2009.
The data was released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
