Soft Brexit leads to surge in exports, CSO figures reveal
Irish exports surged in January, thanks in part to a Brexit deal.
The value of Ireland’s seasonally adjusted goods exports increased to €13,736m in January 2020, according to preliminary figures from the Central Statistics Office.
This was an increase of €930m or 7%.
The unadjusted value of goods exports for January 2020 was €14,659m, which represented a 9% increase of €1,176m, when compared with January 2019.
Medical and pharmaceutical products represented a third of all Irish goods exports.
Exports to Britain increased by €76m (7%) in January, thanks in part to a soft Brexit.
Exports to our closest neighbour went up to €1,142m in total, when compared to January 2019.
The biggest export increase was in machinery and transport equipment.
There was a decrease in the export of Irish chemicals and related products, and food and live animals, to the UK.
Ireland exported €6,700m worth of goods to the EU in January 2020, which was a 4% decrease compared to last year.
Some €1,507m went to Belgium and €1,375m went to Germany.
The US was the main non-EU export destination, accounting for €4,969m (34%) of Ireland’s total exports in January 2020.
However, the value of goods imported into Ireland decreased in the same period.
Seasonally adjusted goods imports decreased to €7,345m. This was a decrease of €607m, or 8%.
Imports fell by almost €500m in January, when unadjusted figures were looked at.
The value of unadjusted goods imports for January 2020 was €7,105m, which was a decrease of €493m (6%).
Imports from Britain decreased by €148m (9%) to €1,496m in January 2020.
The largest decreases were seen in the imports of chemicals and related products, as well as machinery and transport equipment.
Imports from the EU were €4,130m (58%) of Ireland’s total imports in January 2020, which represented a decrease of €178m (4%).
