You are here: Home / Statistics / Goods Exports and Imports April 2015

PDF - Summary (KB)

PDF - Full (KB)

Extra information

PxStat interactive tables:

Goods Exports and Imports

Methodology Previous Releases

International comparison:

Eurostat

No link available

For more information on this release:

E-mail: Trade@cso.ie Norita Murphy +353 1 4984295 Damian Malone +353 1 4984206

For general information on CSO statistics:

information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-5155

CSO statistical release, 15 June 2015, 11am

Goods Exports and Imports

April 2015

Seasonally adjusted
€ million
	Exports	Imports	Surplus
November 2014	7,084	5,095	1,988
December 2014	8,816	4,515	4,302
January 2015	8,287	4,451	3,836
February 2015	8,530	4,731	3,798
March 2015	8,314	5,013	3,302
April 2015	9,303	4,734	4,570

April goods exports reach an all-time high

Goods Exports and Imports seasonally adjusted

go to full release

Preliminary figures for April 2015 show that seasonally adjusted exports increased by €989 million (+12%) from March to €9,303 million, the highest monthly figure in the published series. Seasonally adjusted imports for April decreased by €279 million (-6%) leading to a significant increase of €1,268 million (+38%) in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus to €4,570 million in April (see Table 2).

High value of exports continues in April

The (unadjusted) value of exports for April 2015 was €9,183 million representing an increase of €2,123 million (+30%) when compared with April 2014. This also represents the highest monthly value in the published series. The main driver behind the April 2015 increase was the increase in the exports of Medical and pharmaceutical products of €1,056 million (+63%) to €2,727 million. The exports of Organic chemicals also increased by €560 million (+40%) in April.

The EU accounted for €4,721 million (51%) of total exports in April 2015 of which 15% went to Belgium. The USA was the main non-EU destination accounting for 24% (€2,228 million) of total exports in April 2015.

Imports of Chemicals and related products up

The (unadjusted) value of imports for April 2015 was €4,699 million representing an increase of €401 million (+9%) when compared with April 2014. During April 2015 imports of Chemicals and related products increased by €234 million (+25%) to €1,179 million and imports of Miscellaneous manufactured articles increased by €137 million (+28%) to €628 million. Imports of Machinery specialised for particular industries also increased in April by 86% to €225 million.

The EU accounted for 61% of the value of imports in April 2015, with 27% of total imports coming from Great Britain. The USA (12%) and China (6%) were the main non-EU sources of imports.

Advance Notice: The May 2015 Goods Exports and Imports release, due to be published next month, will include significant revisions to International Trade in Goods statistics. The most significant revision is due to recording trade in aircraft on a "change of economic ownership" basis. The technical note (http://www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/externaltrade/) explains the impact the revisions will have on Trade in Goods, National Accounts and Balance of Payments.

Show Table 1 Goods Exports and Imports summary analysis

Table 1 Goods Exports and Imports summary analysis
Period		Value			Volume index¹		Unit value index¹
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		€m	€m	€m	Exports	Imports	Exports	Imports	Terms of trade²
		€m	€m	€m	Exports	Imports	Exports	Imports	Terms of trade²
1990		18,204	15,832	2,372	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
1991		19,070	16,317	2,753	105.6	100.8	99.3	102.3	97.0
1992		21,260	16,754	4,506	121.1	105.6	96.6	100.2	96.4
1993		25,179	18,900	6,279	133.4	113.0	103.9	105.4	98.6
1994		28,891	21,945	6,946	153.2	127.9	103.8	108.1	96.0
1995		35,330	26,181	9,149	184.0	146.3	105.7	112.7	93.7
1996		38,609	28,479	10,130	202.2	160.9	105.1	111.4	94.3
1997		44,868	32,863	12,004	232.4	184.8	106.3	112.0	94.9
1998		57,322	39,715	17,607	289.2	218.3	109.1	114.6	95.2
1999		66,956	44,327	22,629	336.5	236.5	109.5	118.0	92.8
2000		83,889	55,909	27,980	401.4	275.2	115.0	128.0	89.9
2001		92,690	57,384	35,306	422.0	274.2	120.9	131.8	91.7
2002		93,675	55,628	38,047	435.1	276.6	118.5	126.7	93.5
2003		82,076	47,865	34,212	418.4	259.7	108.0	116.1	93.0
2004		84,410	51,105	33,304	446.5	283.6	104.0	113.5	91.7
2005		86,732	57,465	29,267	456.7	316.3	104.5	114.4	91.3
2006		86,772	60,857	25,915	458.0	325.2	104.4	117.7	88.7
2007		89,226	63,486	25,741	481.8	340.9	101.9	117.3	86.9
2008		86,394	57,585	28,810	484.5	300.5	98.0	119.7	81.9
2009		85,804	45,061	40,742	468.4	249.2	98.9	113.9	86.8
2010		89,703	45,764	43,940	485.5	241.3	101.2	119.2	84.9
2011		91,228	48,302	42,925	507.9	240.8	99.7	126.4	78.8
2012		91,688	49,146	42,542	479.1	231.9	105.8	133.7	79.2
2013		86,999	50,025	36,974	460.6	238.8	103.9	131.6	78.9
2014		89,206	53,823	35,383	..	..	..	..	..

2014	Quarter 1	21,254	13,414	7,840	454.3	253.2	103.1	133.5	77.2
	Quarter 2	22,820	13,076	9,744	491.0	247.7	102.3	132.9	76.9
	Quarter 3	22,234	13,024	9,210	467.4	246.6	104.7	133.0	78.7
	Quarter 4	22,899	14,309	8,590	474.3	273.9	106.3	131.6	80.8
2015	Quarter 1	24,902	14,899	10,003	..	..	..	..	..

2014³	January	6,960	4,541	2,420	447.6	259.4	102.7	132.3	77.6
	February	6,792	4,079	2,714	427.8	228.5	104.9	134.9	77.7
	March	7,501	4,795	2,706	487.5	271.8	101.6	133.3	76.2
	April	7,060	4,298	2,762	461.9	244.5	100.9	132.8	76.0
	May	7,916	4,496	3,420	504.7	254.1	103.6	133.7	77.5
	June	7,844	4,282	3,562	506.4	244.5	102.3	132.3	77.3
	July	6,869	4,404	2,465	440.2	251.9	103.1	132.1	78.0
	August	7,433	4,114	3,319	467.9	233.8	104.9	132.9	78.9
	September	7,932	4,506	3,426	494.2	254.1	106.0	134.0	79.1
	October	7,619	4,744	2,875	477.2	272.0	105.4	131.8	80.0
	November	7,519	4,906	2,613	465.0	284.1	106.8	130.5	81.8
	December	7,761	4,659	3,102	480.7	265.7	106.6	132.5	80.5

2015³	January	7,951	4,772	3,179	..	..	..	..	..
	February	7,942	4,571	3,371	..	..	..	..	..
	March	9,009	5,556	3,454	..	..	..	..	..
	April⁴	9,183	4,699	4,484	..	..	..	..	..
¹Monthly data have been rescaled to make their average equal to the annual.
²Export unit value index divided by Import unit value index.
³Revised, see background notes.
⁴April 2015 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
. . Indices are not yet available.

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2015 Table 1 (XLS 18KB)

Hide Table

Show Table 2 Goods Exports and Imports seasonally adjusted series

Table 2 Goods Exports and Imports seasonally adjusted¹series
Period		Value			Volume index
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		Exports	Imports	Trade surplus	Base year 1990=100
		€m	€m	€m	Exports	Imports

2013	Quarter 1	21,181	11,682	9,499	442.4	225.6
	Quarter 2	21,567	12,318	9,249	452.2	233.5
	Quarter 3	22,302	12,845	9,456	475.8	242.4
	Quarter 4	22,110	13,264	8,846	468.6	250.2
2014	Quarter 1	21,299	12,729	8,569	453.5	242.3
	Quarter 2	22,457	13,160	9,297	487.3	248.6
	Quarter 3	22,328	13,805	8,523	469.0	259.3
	Quarter 4	23,462	14,289	9,173	483.5	273.7
2015	Quarter 1	25,131	14,195	10,936	..	..

2013	January	6,791	3,978	2,813	423.4	236.5
	February	6,976	3,898	3,078	444.0	222.9
	March	7,414	3,806	3,609	459.7	217.4
	April	7,351	4,062	3,288	457.4	230.4
	May	7,086	4,027	3,060	446.0	230.0
	June	7,131	4,229	2,902	453.3	240.2
	July	7,333	4,245	3,088	469.8	234.8
	August	7,671	4,482	3,190	488.7	257.0
	September	7,297	4,119	3,178	469.0	235.5
	October	7,349	4,400	2,949	467.1	244.7
	November	7,032	4,543	2,489	445.4	258.7
	December	7,729	4,321	3,409	493.2	247.2
2014	January	7,145	4,131	3,014	462.3	239.5
	February	7,237	4,079	3,158	450.8	231.6
	March	6,917	4,520	2,397	447.3	255.9
	April	6,827	4,038	2,789	452.4	232.5
	May	7,929	4,761	3,168	505.8	263.0
	June	7,701	4,361	3,340	503.7	250.2
	July	6,584	4,675	1,909	424.0	265.2
	August	8,020	4,619	3,401	505.7	258.7
	September	7,723	4,511	3,213	477.4	254.0
	October	7,562	4,679	2,883	465.6	264.9
	November	7,084	5,095	1,988	441.5	297.3
	December	8,816	4,515	4,302	543.4	258.9

2015	January	8,287	4,451	3,836	..	..
	February	8,530	4,731	3,798	..	..
	March	8,314	5,013	3,302	..	..
	April	9,303	4,734	4,570	..	..
¹Based on seasonal patterns up to December 2014. Accordingly all values in this table may have been revised.

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2015 Table 2 (XLS 16KB)

Hide Table

Show Table 3 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity

Table 3 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity¹
										€million
SITC (Rev 4)			Exports				Imports
			Exports				Imports
			Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr	Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr
			2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015
0	Food and live animals		793	782	2,947	3,023	510	463	2,015	2,057
	00	Live animals other than animals of Division 03	26	18	93	86	5	4	54	49
	01	Meat and meat preparations	270	286	1,039	1,118	73	72	274	301
	02	Dairy products and birds' eggs	149	149	540	500	76	53	270	238
	03	Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and preparations thereof	44	47	197	187	22	18	81	83
	04	Cereals and cereal preparations	35	36	112	129	77	69	310	318
	05	Vegetables and fruit	21	24	82	91	93	83	351	345
	06	Sugars, sugar preparations and honey	9	11	36	38	29	26	114	119
	07	Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices and manufactures thereof	35	27	137	108	31	34	138	163
	08	Feeding stuff for animals (excl. unmilled cereals)	19	25	81	104	66	60	278	266
	09	Miscellaneous edible products and preparations	185	159	631	662	38	43	144	176
1	Beverages and tobacco		81	92	320	366	63	65	227	230
	11	Beverages	76	88	300	349	57	58	200	203
	12	Tobacco and tobacco manufactures	5	4	20	17	7	7	27	27
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels		149	162	578	634	60	75	240	280
	21	Hides, skins and furskins, raw	13	15	54	57	0	0	0	0
	22	Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits	1	1	2	3	4	3	10	11
	23	Crude rubber (incl. synthetic and reclaimed)	1	1	2	1	1	1	5	6
	24	Cork and wood	12	13	46	51	8	11	37	48
	25	Pulp and waste paper	4	5	18	18	4	6	17	19
	26	Textile fibres and their wastes	11	12	44	48	2	1	6	6
	27	Crude fertilisers and minerals (excl. coal, petroleum and precious stones)	15	9	53	47	12	12	39	40
	28	Metalliferous ores and metal scrap	84	97	323	366	13	21	62	77
	29	Crude animal and vegetable materials nes	9	8	35	42	17	20	64	72
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials		113	86	317	225	517	411	2,350	1,906
	32	Coal, coke and briquettes	11	14	34	40	25	15	67	69
	33	Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials	100	67	274	165	396	294	1,770	1,372
	34	Gas, natural and manufactured	2	0	8	1	92	94	475	433
	35	Electric current	0	5	1	18	5	8	38	31
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes		6	4	22	18	21	20	72	80
	41	Animal oils and fats	5	4	18	16	2	2	5	6
	42	Fixed vegetable fats and oils	1	0	2	2	17	16	60	66
	43	Animal or vegetable fats and oils, processed; waxes	0	0	1	0	2	2	7	8
5	Chemicals and related products		4,066	5,813	16,624	21,110	945	1,179	4,050	4,763
	51	Organic chemicals	1,401	1,961	6,218	7,189	207	308	1,219	1,411
	52	Inorganic chemicals	13	10	49	68	16	20	62	82
	53	Dyeing, tanning and colouring materials	10	11	38	41	16	21	62	72
	54	Medical and pharmaceutical products	1,671	2,727	6,738	9,763	386	484	1,496	1,831
	55	Essential oils; perfume materials; toilet and cleansing preparations	642	742	2,299	2,690	88	105	339	401
	56	Fertilisers (other than those of Division 27)	0	0	1	1	60	58	206	250
	57	Plastics in primary forms	23	36	104	125	69	72	271	277
	58	Plastics in non-primary forms	35	47	140	163	44	46	164	177
	59	Chemical materials and products nes	270	279	1,038	1,069	58	65	230	263
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material		149	182	610	668	338	356	1,331	1,527
	61	Leather; leather manufactures nes; dressed furskins	2	2	10	11	1	2	6	8
	62	Rubber manufactures nes	7	6	22	23	25	26	99	104
	63	Cork and wood manufactures (excl. furniture)	19	21	79	81	14	18	61	74
	64	Paper, paperboard and articles thereof	11	11	51	46	68	65	267	276
	65	Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products	13	14	49	56	35	33	127	140
	66	Non-metallic mineral manufactures nes	31	34	106	128	31	37	125	155
	67	Iron and steel	11	28	45	65	45	54	189	203
	68	Non-ferrous metals	7	9	26	29	48	36	182	233
	69	Manufactures of metals nes	48	56	224	231	70	84	276	334
7	Machinery and transport equipment		697	878	3,010	3,569	1,167	1,287	4,654	5,456
	71	Power generating machinery and equipment	43	40	181	140	48	33	250	155
	72	Machinery specialised for particular industries	51	55	187	216	121	225	690	985
	73	Metalworking machinery	3	2	10	9	6	9	25	38
	74	General industrial machinery and equipment nes and parts nes	124	171	510	556	111	133	448	505
	75	Office machines and automatic data processing machines	245	277	1,142	1,249	238	303	915	1,118
	76	Telecommunications and sound equipment	49	72	200	284	96	110	361	445
	77	Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances nes and parts	133	209	571	897	170	190	671	778
	78	Road vehicles (incl. air-cushion vehicles)	21	21	86	91	211	246	966	1,203
	79	Other transport equipment	29	31	123	127	166	39	328	228
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles		940	1,036	3,554	4,051	491	628	2,015	2,495
	81	Prefab buildings; plumbing and electrical fixtures and fittings	11	12	41	49	13	15	59	72
	82	Furniture and parts thereof; bedding, cushions etc	12	14	51	55	29	34	116	140
	83	Travel goods, handbags and similar containers	1	1	5	6	8	9	32	39
	84	Articles of apparel; clothing accessories	21	25	67	90	114	141	471	564
	85	Footwear	3	4	11	14	25	32	99	133
	87	Professional, scientific and controlling apparatus nes	348	375	1,368	1,497	108	157	453	598
	88	Photographic apparatus; optical goods; watches and clocks	88	100	337	352	21	30	83	103
	89	Miscellaneous manufactured articles nes	456	505	1,674	1,987	174	211	701	847
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere		20	38	137	138	93	102	381	424
Unclassified estimates²			48	110	195	284	93	113	377	380

Total			7,060	9,183	28,314	34,085	4,298	4,699	17,712	19,598
¹April 2015 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
² Estimates for which a commodity classification is not available.

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2015 Table 3 (XLS 25KB)

Hide Table

Show Table 4 Goods Exports and Imports classified by country

Table 4 Goods Exports and Imports classified by country¹
								€million
Country	Exports				Imports
	Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr	Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr
	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015
Austria	26	51	103	161	16	18	66	79
Belgium	794	1,344	3,715	4,414	85	119	370	435
Bulgaria	7	9	21	33	1	3	10	44
Croatia	3	3	8	10	0	0	1	1
Cyprus	1	1	6	6	0	1	1	2
Czech Republic	37	38	155	155	29	36	137	158
Denmark	44	51	180	207	33	67	135	166
Estonia	2	3	7	9	5	4	8	22
Finland	21	33	102	114	9	9	41	43
France	378	432	1,402	1,654	182	202	780	783
Germany	462	551	1,850	2,257	370	364	1,447	1,706
Great Britain	933	985	3,827	4,114	1,264	1,267	5,474	5,231
Greece	42	22	106	99	2	6	10	17
Hungary	16	27	83	115	11	9	38	47
Italy	174	227	709	766	87	107	309	375
Latvia	2	3	8	14	2	4	9	12
Lithuania	3	2	11	11	10	9	29	40
Luxembourg	5	5	22	23	3	3	13	14
Malta	3	3	7	9	0	1	2	3
Netherlands	289	302	1,137	1,402	184	248	827	908
Northern Ireland	125	141	490	556	99	86	368	343
Poland	83	96	301	376	40	39	138	163
Portugal	32	35	116	151	12	15	47	51
Romania	26	28	114	114	8	8	28	38
Slovakia	5	6	18	22	3	3	19	31
Slovenia	3	3	12	12	1	1	18	6
Spain	216	237	821	1,010	68	67	289	313
Sweden	55	65	217	241	30	53	120	193
EU Country not specified²	1	16	6	45	91	115	394	459
Total EU	3,786	4,721	15,556	18,101	2,644	2,866	11,127	11,684
of which Euro-Zone³	2,454	3,260	10,141	12,135	1,028	1,183	4,255	4,841

Australia	42	116	192	315	7	6	33	29
Brazil	24	15	78	77	12	15	49	58
Canada	72	86	244	289	26	50	89	161
China⁴	189	231	602	731	254	295	1,015	1,302
India	18	30	79	103	33	44	136	157
Japan	137	291	605	695	116	122	624	827
Malaysia	18	22	59	84	21	22	77	83
Mexico	112	123	362	406	24	29	91	130
Norway	29	23	105	89	122	93	470	395
Russia	57	27	214	105	22	16	75	68
Saudi Arabia	50	103	200	358	0	1	2	2
Singapore	41	43	189	197	28	50	133	148
South Africa	20	21	114	78	5	8	21	29
South Korea	34	48	124	196	30	77	134	195
Switzerland	390	562	1,561	2,441	42	65	633	562
Taiwan	11	9	48	43	18	27	79	102
Thailand	14	18	49	72	25	34	119	157
Turkey	39	39	156	157	39	40	140	176
USA	1,656	2,228	6,566	8,039	575	576	1,882	2,227
Other countries	319	426	1,197	1,497	202	162	648	874
Country unknown⁵	1	1	13	10	52	104	134	232

Total	7,060	9,183	28,314	34,085	4,298	4,699	17,712	19,598
¹April 2015 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
²Includes estimates for traders below the Intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified.
³Euro-zone members from January 2015: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
⁴China includes Hong Kong and Macao.
⁵Trade for which the country of origin or country of final destination is unknown.

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2015 Table 4 (XLS 21KB)

Hide Table

Show Table 5 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity and principal countries

Table 5 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity and principal countries¹
									€million
		Exports				Imports
	Country by Section level of SITC	Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr	Apr	Apr	Jan-Apr	Jan-Apr
		2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015
Great Britain		933	985	3,827	4,114	1,264	1,267	5,474	5,231
0	Food and live animals	275	301	1,088	1,170	196	179	799	819
1	Beverages and tobacco	20	18	80	74	24	24	89	79
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	30	37	128	140	12	15	47	52
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	44	39	193	128	322	265	1,713	1,159
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	1	1	6	4	4	4	14	15
5	Chemicals and related products	293	252	1,160	1,212	179	192	675	747
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	65	80	258	297	132	139	521	571
7	Machinery and transport equipment	105	128	518	618	194	205	791	855
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	76	89	299	357	146	178	604	722
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	24	40	98	114	55	64	220	213
Other EU²		2,853	3,736	11,728	13,987	1,380	1,599	5,653	6,452
0	Food and live animals	285	298	1,086	1,112	224	207	848	896
1	Beverages and tobacco	25	25	91	108	28	29	101	109
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	77	94	299	367	20	22	84	91
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	10	6	33	41	28	64	87	181
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	5	4	15	13	13	12	44	49
5	Chemicals and related products	1,757	2,507	7,326	9,105	367	442	1,575	1,699
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	61	75	240	265	132	125	505	586
7	Machinery and transport equipment	285	287	1,266	1,273	341	440	1,459	1,788
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	320	365	1,256	1,511	107	119	460	512
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	29	75	117	190	119	139	491	542
USA		1,656	2,228	6,566	8,039	575	576	1,882	2,227
0	Food and live animals	10	13	47	55	18	16	85	59
1	Beverages and tobacco	22	34	96	130	1	1	5	5
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	1	3	8	13	3	5	13	15
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	59	40	89	53	0	2	23	36
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	-	-	-	-	0	0	1	0
5	Chemicals and related products	1,137	1,618	4,700	5,806	204	238	668	910
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	8	11	57	36	23	35	96	119
7	Machinery and transport equipment	76	147	328	558	249	179	705	725
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	340	360	1,231	1,381	72	95	273	343
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	3	2	11	6	4	4	15	15
China³		189	231	602	731	254	295	1,015	1,302
0	Food and live animals	60	54	168	203	4	2	11	13
1	Beverages and tobacco	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	7	11	32	40	3	3	13	14
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
5	Chemicals and related products	57	101	195	242	19	16	69	84
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	2	3	8	12	23	25	103	134
7	Machinery and transport equipment	38	34	122	117	132	158	500	663
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	23	28	76	116	70	85	303	380
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	0	0	0	0	3	3	15	14
Rest of World		1,428	2,004	5,590	7,214	824	962	3,687	4,384
0	Food and live animals	162	115	559	484	67	57	271	270
1	Beverages and tobacco	13	13	51	52	10	11	32	36
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	32	17	111	74	21	29	84	109
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	0	1	1	2	167	79	527	531
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	0	1	0	3	4	13	15
5	Chemicals and related products	821	1,335	3,244	4,744	176	290	1,063	1,323
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	13	15	48	58	28	31	105	117
7	Machinery and transport equipment	193	282	777	1,002	251	304	1,199	1,425
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	180	194	692	687	97	151	375	540
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	12	31	107	111	4	5	18	19

Total		7,060	9,183	28,314	34,085	4,298	4,699	17,712	19,598
¹ April 2015 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes.
²Includes estimates for traders below the Intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified.
³ China includes Hong Kong and Macao.

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2015 Table 5 (XLS 22KB)

Hide Table

Show Background Notes

Background Notes

Introduction

Goods Exports and Imports statistics provide data on the movement of goods between countries. The statistics are a combination of Customs-based non-EU trade statistics and data from the Intrastat Survey of Irish traders involved in trade with other EU member states. The collection of trade data is the responsibility of VIMA (a branch of Revenue). The CSO is responsible for processing and disseminating the data.

Revisions

Trade figures are subject to revision on the incorporation of late Intrastat and VAT returns and corrections made by traders. When the preliminary results for a month are published, the results for months -1 (March 2015 in this publication), -4 (December 2014) and -8 (August 2014) are revised.

Intrastat System

The Intrastat system has two components. Firstly, the Intrastat survey (conducted by the Revenue Commissioners), in which traders, above the Intrastat survey trade thresholds, make detailed monthly returns giving information on the quantity and value of all exports to or imports from EU countries.

The total number of traders required to make a detailed import return is around 6,700 while around 1,900 must make a detailed export return. The response rate in terms of number of traders in April 2015 was 69%, covering an estimated 92% of the total value of intra-EU trade (these response rates will have increased by the next time data for April is published).

The second component of the Intrastat system is the regular VAT return, on which all traders are required to record the total value of goods imported from and exported to other EU countries. This information provides the basis for determining total EU trade for those traders below the Intrastat survey thresholds. It is also used to maintain the register of EU traders.

Extrastat System

The statistics of trade with non-EU countries are compiled from the documents supplied by importers and exporters to the Customs authorities. The document is the Single Administrative Document (SAD) used for Customs clearance purposes.

Estimation

The figures in this release include estimates for traders above the Intrastat thresholds who did not make detailed returns for the period and for traders below the thresholds who did not provide aggregate intra-EU trade figures on their VAT returns.

Estimates for Intrastat non-respondents are apportioned to individual commodities and countries whenever previous Intrastat returns are available. Estimates for traders below the Intrastat thresholds are assigned to partner country where possible, but not to commodity.

Imports incorporate an upward adjustment of 1.75% of total imports, which is included in ‘Unclassified estimates’. This special adjustment arises from the difficulty of comprehensively covering all EU imports through the Intrastat survey system. The unclassified category also includes certain miscellaneous adjustments.

More information is now being processed on lower value transactions. Prior to January 2012, transactions below €254 were grouped together, this value has now decreased to €127. Therefore, this has resulted in more detail being available at commodity level in Table 3 and at country level in Tables 4 and 5.

Unit Value Indices

The monthly unit value index measures monthly unit value trends relative to the annual levels in the preceding year using value weights relating to that year’s trade (Laspeyres index).

The annual index is compiled using value weights for both the current and previous year (Fisher index) to allow for change in the structure of trade in goods.

The monthly index series should be regarded as interim measures suitable for month-to-month comparisons within a given year. Previous monthly indices are revised when late returns are received.

When the annual unit value index is compiled, the monthly unit value indices are rescaled to make their average equal to the annual index.

Seasonally Adjusted Series

Monthly exports, imports, trade surplus and the volume series for exports and imports have been seasonally adjusted using the US Bureau of the Census X-11 Variant of the Census Method 11 Seasonal Adjustment Program. In the main, monthly projections are based on series recalculated at the end of the previous year.

Methodology

There are methodological differences between the measurement of exports and imports in this release compared with Industrial Production, National Accounts and Balance of Payments statistics. This release records the movement of all goods over the frontier at the valuation placed on the goods at the time of crossing the frontier. Industrial Production, National Accounts and Balance of Payments statistics take account of additional aspects of cross-frontier activities such as goods sent abroad for processing where goods cross the frontier without change of ownership. The CSO releases for those statistics provide more information on their methodology.

Services Exports and Imports

The quarterly Balance of Payments (BOP) statistics provide detail on Services exports and imports.

Hide Background Notes

Scan the QR code below to view this release online or go to
http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/gei/goodsexportsandimportsapril2015/

PxStat interactive tables:

International comparison:

See also:

For more information on this release:

For general information on CSO statistics:

Goods Exports and Imports

April 2015

April goods exports reach an all-time high

Background Notes

Contact:

Links:

Careers

Follow: