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E-mail: Trade@cso.ie Ciarán Counihan +353 1 4984215 Damian Malone +353 1 4984206

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

CSO statistical release, 15 June 2016, 11am

Goods Exports and Imports

April 2016

Seasonally adjusted
€ million
	Exports	Imports	Surplus
November 2015	9,509	6,383	3,126
December 2015	10,257	6,421	3,836
January 2016	9,374	4,578	4,796
February 2016	8,752	5,084	3,667
March 2016	8,984	5,269	3,715
April 2016	9,238	4,704	4,534

Seasonally adjusted goods trade surplus increases in April

Goods Exports and Imports seasonally adjusted

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Preliminary figures for April 2016 show that seasonally adjusted goods exports increased by €254 million (+3%) to €9,238 million compared with March 2016.

Seasonally adjusted goods imports decreased by €565 million (-11%) to €4,704 million leading to an increase of €819 million (+22%) in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus to €4,534 million in April 2016 (see Table 2).

Exports of Electrical machinery products increase in April

The (unadjusted) value of goods exports for April 2016 was €9,404 million representing a decrease of €210 million (-2%) when compared with April 2015. The value of goods exports for the period January to April 2016 was €36,427 million, an increase of €770 million (+2%) when compared with the first four months of 2015.

Exports of Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances increased by €323 million (+152%) to €535 million in April.

Exports of Food and live animals increased by €44 million (+6%) to €834 million over the same comparative period.

Exports of Medical and pharmaceutical products decreased by €291 million (-11%) to €2,441 million.

Imports of Machinery products decrease in April

The (unadjusted) value of goods imports for April 2016 was €4,599 million representing a decrease of €1,038 million (-18%) when compared with April 2015. The value of goods imports for January to April 2016 was €20,346 million, which is a decrease of €2,155 million (-10%) compared with the first four months of 2015.

Imports of Machinery specialised for particular industries fell by €119 million (-52%) to €111 million in April.

Imports of Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials decreased by €155 million (-38%) to €255 million.

Imports of Road vehicles increased by €65 million (+26%) to €319 million over the same period.

The value of goods imports for April 2016 excluding SITC 79 (Other transport equipment, including aircraft) was €4,461 million, a decrease of €193 million (-4%) when compared with the corresponding April 2015 figure of €4,654 million.

Geographic breakdown of goods exports and imports

The EU accounted for €4,715 million (50%) of total goods exports in April 2016 of which €1,223 million went to Belgium and €1,010 million to Great Britain.

The USA was the main non-EU destination accounting for €2,416 million (26%) of total exports in April 2016.

The EU accounted for 62% of the value of goods imports in April 2016, with €1,200 million (26%) of total imports coming from Great Britain.

The USA with €563 million (12%) and China with €303 million (7%) were the main non-EU sources of imports.

NOTE on revised data: This release includes significant revisions to International Trade in Goods statistics. While the most significant revision is due to recording trade in aircraft on a "transfer of economic ownership" basis, other revisions have been incorporated into the Trade data back to 2000. The technical note (http://www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/externaltrade/) gives more detail on the revised trade in aircraft methodology and 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		Value¹			Volume index²		Unit value index²
		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 trade³
		€m	€m	€m	Exports	Imports	Exports	Imports	Terms of trade³
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		83,986	54,960	29,026	401.4	275.2	115.0	128.0	89.9
2001		92,730	56,455	36,275	422.0	274.2	120.9	131.8	91.7
2002		94,059	55,106	38,953	435.1	276.6	118.5	126.7	93.5
2003		82,585	48,515	34,070	418.4	259.7	108.0	116.1	93.0
2004		84,949	51,557	33,392	446.5	283.6	104.0	113.5	91.7
2005		87,173	58,463	28,710	456.7	316.3	104.5	114.4	91.3
2006		87,497	63,833	23,664	457.6	323.9	104.4	117.7	88.7
2007		90,580	65,939	24,640	481.8	340.9	101.9	117.3	86.9
2008		88,503	59,336	29,168	484.5	300.5	98.0	119.7	81.9
2009		87,586	48,203	39,382	468.4	249.2	98.9	113.9	86.8
2010		90,924	48,695	42,229	485.5	241.3	101.2	119.2	84.9
2011		93,191	53,035	40,155	507.9	240.8	99.7	126.4	78.8
2012		93,507	56,179	37,328	479.1	231.9	105.8	133.7	79.2
2013		89,182	55,787	33,394	460.6	238.8	103.9	131.6	78.9
2014		92,616	62,158	30,458	..	..	..	..	..
2015		112,164	70,034	42,131	..	..	..	..	..

2014	Quarter 1	21,765	15,227	6,538	454.3	253.2	103.1	133.5	77.2
	Quarter 2	23,559	14,745	8,814	491.0	247.7	102.3	132.9	76.9
	Quarter 3	23,271	15,345	7,926	467.4	246.6	104.7	133.0	78.7
	Quarter 4	24,021	16,840	7,180	474.3	273.9	106.3	131.6	80.8
2015	Quarter 1	26,043	16,864	9,179	..	..	..	..	..
	Quarter 2	28,705	16,983	11,721	..	..	..	..	..
	Quarter 3	27,464	16,650	10,814	..	..	..	..	..
	Quarter 4	29,954	19,537	10,417	..	..	..	..	..
2016	Quarter 1	27,023	15,748	11,276	..	..	..	..	..

2014	January	7,085	5,181	1,904	447.6	259.4	102.7	132.3	77.6
	February	6,959	4,611	2,348	427.8	228.5	104.9	134.9	77.7
	March	7,720	5,434	2,286	487.5	271.8	101.6	133.3	76.2
	April	7,322	4,866	2,455	461.9	244.5	100.9	132.8	76.0
	May	8,158	4,972	3,187	504.7	254.1	103.6	133.7	77.5
	June	8,080	4,907	3,172	506.4	244.5	102.3	132.3	77.3
	July	7,252	5,267	1,984	440.2	251.9	103.1	132.1	78.0
	August	7,773	4,795	2,978	467.9	233.8	104.9	132.9	78.9
	September	8,247	5,283	2,964	494.2	254.1	106.0	134.0	79.1
	October	7,932	5,586	2,347	477.2	272.0	105.4	131.8	80.0
	November	7,864	5,584	2,280	465.0	284.1	106.8	130.5	81.8
	December	8,224	5,671	2,553	480.7	265.7	106.6	132.5	80.5

2015⁴	January	8,290	5,368	2,922	..	..	..	..	..
	February	8,348	5,136	3,212	..	..	..	..	..
	March	9,405	6,360	3,045	..	..	..	..	..
	April	9,614	5,637	3,977	..	..	..	..	..
	May	9,180	5,535	3,645	..	..	..	..	..
	June	9,911	5,811	4,099	..	..	..	..	..
	July	9,413	5,765	3,648	..	..	..	..	..
	August	8,626	5,209	3,416	..	..	..	..	..
	September	9,425	5,675	3,750	..	..	..	..	..
	October	10,736	6,503	4,232	..	..	..	..	..
	November	10,166	6,475	3,692	..	..	..	..	..
	December	9,052	6,559	2,493	..	..	..	..	..

2016⁴	January	8,822	4,625	4,197	..	..	..	..	..
	February	8,382	5,041	3,341	..	..	..	..	..
	March	9,819	6,082	3,738	..	..	..	..	..
	April	9,404	4,599	4,806	..	..	..	..	..
¹Trade statistics revised since 2000, see background notes.
²Monthly data have been rescaled to make their average equal to the annual.
³Export unit value index divided by Import unit value index.
⁴ Revised. April 2016 is based on current Intrastat response levels. See background notes.
.. Indices are not yet available.

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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	21,731	13,474	8,257	445.1	227.4
	Quarter 2	22,023	13,966	8,057	455.0	235.5
	Quarter 3	22,935	14,093	8,841	476.8	243.1
	Quarter 4	22,660	14,319	8,342	468.6	250.2
2014	Quarter 1	21,807	14,448	7,359	453.5	242.3
	Quarter 2	23,183	14,834	8,349	487.3	248.6
	Quarter 3	23,369	16,264	7,105	469.0	259.3
	Quarter 4	24,624	16,804	7,820	483.5	273.7
2015	Quarter 1	26,286	16,062	10,224	..	..
	Quarter 2	28,460	17,271	11,189	..	..
	Quarter 3	27,199	17,524	9,675	..	..
	Quarter 4	30,567	19,219	11,348	..	..
2016	Quarter 1	27,109	14,931	12,178	..	..

2013	January	6,977	4,457	2,520	426.0	238.4
	February	7,170	4,597	2,574	446.7	224.7
	March	7,584	4,420	3,164	462.6	219.2
	April	7,531	4,603	2,928	460.2	232.3
	May	7,246	4,589	2,657	448.7	231.9
	June	7,246	4,775	2,472	456.1	242.2
	July	7,568	4,666	2,902	472.7	236.8
	August	7,876	4,932	2,944	488.7	257.0
	September	7,490	4,495	2,995	469.0	235.5
	October	7,501	4,765	2,736	467.1	244.7
	November	7,233	4,908	2,325	445.4	258.7
	December	7,927	4,646	3,281	493.2	247.2
2014	January	7,273	4,713	2,560	462.3	239.5
	February	7,415	4,612	2,803	450.8	231.6
	March	7,119	5,123	1,996	447.3	255.9
	April	7,080	4,572	2,508	452.4	232.5
	May	8,171	5,264	2,907	505.8	263.0
	June	7,932	4,998	2,934	503.7	250.2
	July	6,951	5,591	1,360	424.0	265.2
	August	8,388	5,384	3,004	505.7	258.7
	September	8,030	5,289	2,741	477.4	254.0
	October	7,873	5,509	2,364	465.6	264.9
	November	7,408	5,799	1,609	441.5	297.3
	December	9,343	5,496	3,848	543.4	258.9

2015	January	8,641	5,007	3,633	..	..
	February	8,966	5,316	3,650	..	..
	March	8,679	5,739	2,941	..	..
	April	9,740	5,678	4,061	..	..
	May	9,376	5,887	3,489	..	..
	June	9,345	5,706	3,639	..	..
	July	9,076	6,102	2,974	..	..
	August	9,150	5,725	3,425	..	..
	September	8,974	5,697	3,276	..	..
	October	10,802	6,415	4,386	..	..
	November	9,509	6,383	3,126	..	..
	December	10,257	6,421	3,836	..	..

2016	January	9,374	4,578	4,796	..	..
	February	8,752	5,084	3,667	..	..
	March	8,984	5,269	3,715	..	..
	April	9,238	4,704	4,534	..	..
¹Based on seasonal patterns up to December 2015. Accordingly all values in this table may have been revised.
.. Indices are not yet available.

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Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2016 Table 2 (XLS 15KB)

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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
			2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016
0	Food and live animals		790	834	3,038	3,208	480	515	2,080	2,144
	00	Live animals other than animals of Division 03	21	14	92	62	5	9	47	44
	01	Meat and meat preparations	284	285	1,117	1,160	73	75	301	305
	02	Dairy products and birds' eggs	154	135	506	493	57	54	244	217
	03	Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and preparations thereof	46	42	186	185	20	22	86	88
	04	Cereals and cereal preparations	36	33	131	123	69	83	316	331
	05	Vegetables and fruit	24	23	91	90	86	104	352	409
	06	Sugars, sugar preparations and honey	11	23	38	82	25	31	117	120
	07	Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices and manufactures thereof	28	34	111	131	34	38	163	181
	08	Feeding stuff for animals (excluding unmilled cereals)	25	24	102	89	62	51	272	262
	09	Miscellaneous edible products and preparations	162	221	665	795	48	49	182	186
1	Beverages and tobacco		92	96	366	395	67	69	235	277
	11	Beverages	88	90	349	375	60	57	207	236
	12	Tobacco and tobacco manufactures	4	6	17	20	7	12	27	41
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels		164	129	638	485	76	63	285	273
	21	Hides, skins and furskins, raw	15	12	58	45	0	0	0	0
	22	Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits	1	1	3	4	3	2	11	10
	23	Crude rubber (including synthetic and reclaimed)	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	3
	24	Cork and wood	14	14	52	51	11	12	49	48
	25	Pulp and waste paper	5	6	19	21	6	5	19	19
	26	Textile fibres and their wastes	13	11	48	44	1	2	6	5
	27	Crude fertilisers and minerals (excluding coal, petroleum and precious stones)	10	14	47	46	12	10	41	47
	28	Metalliferous ores and metal scrap	98	61	369	231	21	15	77	71
	29	Crude animal and vegetable materials nes	9	11	43	42	20	15	75	69
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials		82	55	220	184	410	255	1,958	1,124
	32	Coal, coke and briquettes	13	14	40	44	14	12	70	48
	33	Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials	67	38	165	133	295	184	1,426	790
	34	Gas, natural and manufactured	0	0	1	1	94	59	433	278
	35	Electric current	1	2	13	6	7	1	29	7
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes		4	6	18	25	21	20	81	78
	41	Animal oils and fats	4	5	15	22	1	1	5	6
	42	Fixed vegetable fats and oils	0	1	2	2	18	17	68	62
	43	Animal or vegetable fats and oils, processed; waxes	0	0	1	1	2	2	8	9
5	Chemicals and related products		5,823	5,599	21,123	20,850	1,192	1,210	4,794	4,567
	51	Organic chemicals	1,963	2,089	7,186	7,291	309	328	1,415	1,235
	52	Inorganic chemicals	10	9	60	38	21	23	84	94
	53	Dyeing, tanning and colouring materials	12	14	42	51	21	18	72	74
	54	Medical and pharmaceutical products	2,732	2,441	9,781	9,437	486	523	1,835	1,829
	55	Essential oils; perfume materials; toilet and cleansing preparations	742	717	2,692	2,721	107	105	404	436
	56	Fertilisers (other than those of Division 27)	1	1	2	2	60	36	255	171
	57	Plastics in primary forms	36	28	125	124	73	66	283	266
	58	Plastics in non-primary forms	49	40	165	159	50	46	183	183
	59	Chemical materials and products nes	279	259	1,069	1,026	66	66	264	280
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material		187	178	676	704	364	379	1,543	1,517
	61	Leather; leather manufactures nes; dressed furskins	2	2	11	12	2	2	8	8
	62	Rubber manufactures nes	6	7	24	31	26	27	106	106
	63	Cork and wood manufactures (excluding furniture)	22	20	82	84	19	21	76	80
	64	Paper, paperboard and articles thereof	12	13	46	51	67	70	279	286
	65	Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products	15	16	57	59	34	38	140	152
	66	Non-metallic mineral manufactures nes	34	39	127	144	38	41	155	162
	67	Iron and steel	29	12	68	49	52	53	204	211
	68	Non-ferrous metals	8	6	25	23	37	43	233	174
	69	Manufactures of metals nes	59	62	237	251	89	84	342	339
7	Machinery and transport equipment		1,192	1,264	4,639	5,442	2,269	1,296	8,520	7,163
	71	Power generating machinery and equipment	41	52	141	149	47	55	175	200
	72	Machinery specialised for particular industries	57	58	220	221	230	111	1,002	465
	73	Metalworking machinery	2	2	9	7	9	9	40	36
	74	General industrial machinery and equipment nes and parts nes	173	146	556	540	134	124	506	526
	75	Office machines and automatic data processing machines (including computers)	280	291	1,255	1,270	305	238	1,122	1,071
	76	Telecommunications and sound equipment	70	62	284	277	115	116	457	481
	77	Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances nes and parts	212	535	903	2,213	192	185	783	810
	78	Road vehicles (including air-cushion vehicles)	25	35	102	115	254	319	1,236	1,520
	79	Other transport equipment (including aircraft)	333	82	1,170	648	983	138	3,199	2,056
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles		1,189	1,170	4,604	4,771	634	652	2,517	2,638
	81	Prefab buildings; plumbing and electrical fixtures and fittings	13	14	51	55	16	16	73	75
	82	Furniture and parts thereof; bedding, cushions etc	15	18	56	66	34	34	142	142
	83	Travel goods, handbags and similar containers	2	2	7	9	10	10	40	42
	84	Articles of apparel; clothing accessories	25	25	91	97	140	141	565	582
	85	Footwear	4	4	14	16	31	30	132	120
	87	Professional, scientific and controlling apparatus nes	493	518	1,931	2,040	157	143	596	591
	88	Photographic apparatus; optical goods; watches and clocks	100	104	352	382	30	36	104	147
	89	Miscellaneous manufactured articles nes	537	484	2,102	2,108	216	241	865	939
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere		38	13	138	82	22	28	89	116
Unclassified estimates²			52	61	196	281	102	112	400	449

Total			9,614	9,404	35,657	36,427	5,637	4,599	22,501	20,346
¹ Trade statistics revised since 2000. April 2016 is based on current Intrastat response levels. See background notes.
² Estimates for which a commodity classification is not available.

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Open in Excel: Goods Exports and Imports April 2016 Table 3 (XLS 24KB)

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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
	2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016
Austria	50	31	163	127	19	19	81	90
Belgium	1,340	1,223	4,445	4,893	120	116	436	476
Bulgaria	9	8	33	29	3	2	43	20
Croatia	3	3	10	11	0	11	1	19
Cyprus	2	5	6	12	1	0	1	1
Czech Republic	39	28	156	116	36	30	158	169
Denmark	51	44	207	197	67	34	169	125
Estonia	3	1	10	18	4	1	23	4
Finland	33	17	114	80	10	10	46	45
France	428	380	1,649	1,581	480	313	2,179	1,946
Germany	589	587	2,366	2,520	422	464	1,884	2,200
Great Britain	988	1,010	4,192	4,064	1,309	1,200	5,395	4,892
Greece	22	38	100	102	6	2	16	15
Hungary	27	22	115	97	9	11	47	33
Italy	228	196	771	843	105	107	386	419
Latvia	3	5	14	25	4	3	13	13
Lithuania	2	3	12	12	10	6	41	28
Luxembourg	5	4	23	22	3	2	16	9
Malta	3	13	9	21	1	1	5	6
Netherlands	385	431	1,680	1,761	255	225	925	853
Northern Ireland	144	135	566	532	92	84	365	331
Poland	96	106	376	461	40	44	167	190
Portugal	35	28	152	115	14	18	54	69
Romania	29	35	117	100	9	9	38	31
Slovakia	6	7	24	27	4	4	32	13
Slovenia	4	8	13	24	1	2	7	11
Spain	235	266	1,171	926	72	90	325	374
Sweden	67	70	297	257	54	37	193	157
EU Country not specified²	2	7	6	66	26	17	182	88
Total EU	4,828	4,715	18,798	19,039	3,172	2,860	13,229	12,626
of which Euro-Zone³	3,371	3,245	12,711	13,109	1,519	1,382	6,429	6,571

Australia	117	203	317	382	6	5	29	30
Brazil	15	29	78	76	17	14	165	50
Canada	86	79	290	350	49	22	161	106
China⁴	230	277	732	951	297	303	1,309	1,300
India	30	24	189	100	44	47	157	208
Japan	295	132	732	563	122	102	831	475
Malaysia	22	23	85	67	22	26	83	108
Mexico	123	128	406	474	31	29	132	110
Norway	23	18	89	74	93	68	395	263
Russia	27	32	106	110	16	12	68	79
Saudi Arabia	103	68	358	367	1	1	3	3
Singapore	43	49	198	186	50	17	148	91
South Africa	21	23	78	68	8	7	29	28
South Korea	48	81	196	290	77	68	196	291
Switzerland	561	670	2,440	1,944	65	131	563	410
Taiwan	9	11	43	72	27	26	103	131
Thailand	18	19	72	67	34	27	157	135
Turkey	39	42	210	160	40	42	176	171
USA	2,546	2,416	8,713	9,193	1,200	563	3,434	2,663
Other countries	428	364	1,517	1,850	164	171	901	742
Country unknown⁵	1	1	8	45	104	57	232	326

Total	9,614	9,404	35,657	36,427	5,637	4,599	22,501	20,346
¹ Trade statistics revised since 2000. April 2016 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.

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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
		2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016	2015	2016
Great Britain		988	1,010	4,192	4,064	1,309	1,200	5,395	4,892
0	Food and live animals	304	288	1,171	1,156	189	207	827	853
1	Beverages and tobacco	18	12	75	56	24	26	80	98
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	37	27	143	113	16	12	53	48
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	36	42	123	129	265	150	1,207	665
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	1	1	4	3	5	4	16	14
5	Chemicals and related products	256	286	1,220	1,153	202	188	758	744
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	81	74	298	302	144	141	576	566
7	Machinery and transport equipment	139	154	709	652	219	237	898	952
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	89	96	349	379	183	175	739	693
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	26	30	100	122	62	59	241	258
Other EU²		3,840	3,705	14,606	14,974	1,864	1,660	7,834	7,735
0	Food and live animals	305	289	1,128	1,150	212	226	904	907
1	Beverages and tobacco	25	34	108	133	31	29	112	128
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	95	71	368	258	23	21	93	89
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	6	12	42	46	63	13	185	112
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	3	4	13	19	12	12	49	49
5	Chemicals and related products	2,511	2,362	9,107	9,194	444	478	1,713	1,704
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	78	70	272	275	128	142	596	549
7	Machinery and transport equipment	333	365	1,635	1,704	782	534	3,469	3,363
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	452	457	1,815	2,003	119	139	516	591
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	31	40	117	191	50	65	196	242
USA		2,546	2,416	8,713	9,193	1,200	563	3,434	2,663
0	Food and live animals	13	32	55	117	17	15	60	83
1	Beverages and tobacco	34	37	130	159	1	2	5	6
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	3	4	13	14	5	4	15	16
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	40	0	53	7	2	14	36	43
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	-	-	-	0	0	0	0	0
5	Chemicals and related products	1,618	1,543	5,808	5,856	238	235	910	951
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	11	17	36	67	36	32	119	128
7	Machinery and transport equipment	404	385	986	1,408	803	135	1,930	987
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	421	396	1,626	1,552	94	120	342	425
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	2	3	6	13	4	5	16	24
China³		230	277	732	951	297	303	1,309	1,300
0	Food and live animals	53	104	201	304	2	2	13	9
1	Beverages and tobacco	0	1	2	2	0	0	0	0
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	11	9	40	31	3	3	14	17
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	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	101	63	242	320	17	29	85	116
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	3	2	12	8	25	26	134	126
7	Machinery and transport equipment	34	59	119	143	160	154	666	618
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	28	39	116	142	86	85	380	396
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	0	0	0	0	4	4	16	17
Rest of World		2,010	1,996	7,413	7,244	968	873	4,530	3,757
0	Food and live animals	115	121	483	481	60	65	276	292
1	Beverages and tobacco	13	12	52	46	11	13	37	45
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	17	18	74	69	29	23	109	102
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	1	0	2	2	79	77	530	304
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	0	0	1	4	4	15	14
5	Chemicals and related products	1,338	1,346	4,745	4,327	291	280	1,327	1,053
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	15	15	58	53	31	38	117	148
7	Machinery and transport equipment	282	301	1,190	1,535	306	235	1,558	1,243
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	199	181	697	694	151	133	540	533
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	31	2	111	36	5	5	20	24

Total		9,614	9,404	35,657	36,427	5,637	4,599	22,501	20,346
¹ Trade statistics revised since 2000. April 2016 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.

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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 to the Trade in Goods statistics

Since May 2015, significant revisions were incorporated into International Trade in Goods statistics. While the most significant revision is due to recording trade in aircraft on a "transfer of economic ownership" basis, other revisions were incorporated into the Trade data back to 2000.

Along with the aircraft revisions Goods Exports revisions also include upward revisions due to revaluing some products that had previously been recorded on a “transfer of economic ownership” basis, which was not in line with goods statistics methodology. Also Goods Imports revisions include downward revisions due to a change in the estimation methodology for non-response.

The technical note (http://www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/externaltrade/) gives more detail on the revised trade in aircraft methodology and explains the impact the revisions will have on Trade in Goods, National Accounts and Balance of Payments.

Standard 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 2016 in this publication), -4 (December 2015) and -8 (August 2015) are revised. Following the move to a "transfer of economic ownership" basis for recording exports and imports of aircraft, SITC 79 figures are subject to revision on the incorporation of transactions from quarterly Balance of Payments (BoP) surveys. Such revisions will generally be incorporated into Goods Exports and Imports releases that coincide with quarterly BoP publications, i.e. when initial results are published for January, April, July and October.

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 3,500 while around 2,100 must make a detailed export return. The response rate in terms of number of traders in April 2016 was 69%, covering an estimated 91% 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.

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.

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Goods Exports and Imports

April 2016

Seasonally adjusted goods trade surplus increases in April

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