€16bn of Irish goods sold to the UK in 2017
€16bn worth of Irish goods were sold to the UK in 2017.
With Brexit set to hit this figure, CSO statistics have revealed that 78% of Irish exporters, or 6,719 businesses, trade with the UK. That includes 3,214 businesses who export solely to the UK.
The agri-food industry made up close to a quarter of UK trade, the most of any sector, with 541 companies accounting for €3.7bn of exported goods. That was closely followed by pharmaceuticals (€3.6bn), manufacturing and construction (€3.6bn), and wholesale and retail (€3.3bn).
2,972 wholesalers/retailers exported goods to the UK in 2017, just under half of all businesses exporting to the UK.
87% of firms exporting to the UK and 93% of those importing have less than 50 employees.
Irish businesses are even more reliant on goods purchased from the UK, with €22.5bn worth of goods imported to Ireland.
27,152 enterprises imported goods from the UK in 2017, 86% of all firms who purchased goods from abroad.
Again, the wholesale and retail sector accounted for close to half, 12,761, of those businesses.
The wholesale/retail and agri-food sectors are most at risk of a no-deal Brexit, with UK exports and imports accounting for the highest share of total exports/imports.
