Trade surplus for last year of £22bn
Ireland's trade surplus reached a healthy £22bn last year, according to figures released this evening by the Central Statistics Office.
The Far East was our biggest export growth market, with exports to South Korea almost tripling and the Japan market growing by 60%, although Britain remains our biggest trading partner.
Electrical machinery exports showed the largest increase at 49%, followed by organic chemicals (47%) and computer equipment (25%).
We imported mostly from the US and Britain, with significant rises in the purchase of French, South Korean and Norwegian goods.
