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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 February 2016, 11am

Goods Exports and Imports

December 2015

€ million
	Exports	Imports	Surplus
Jan-Dec 2014	92,616	60,866	31,750
Jan-Dec 2015	111,038	67,023	44,015
% change	+19.9%	+10.1%	+38.6%
Seasonally adjusted
October 2015	10,287	5,820	4,467
November 2015	9,212	5,888	3,324
December 2015	9,868	5,899	3,970

Record trade surplus in 2015

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Preliminary figures for 2015 show that exports totalled €111,038 million for the year. This represents an increase of €18,422 million (+20%) over 2014.

The preliminary trade surplus for 2015 was €44,015 million, which is the largest surplus on record.

Exports of Medical and pharmaceutical products accounted for €30,174 million (27%) of total exports in 2015, an increase of €7,945 million (+36%) over 2014.

Exports of Food and live animals and Beverages and tobacco to the USA totalled €758 million in 2015, an increase of €255 million (+51%) compared with 2014 (see Table 5).

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.

	Exports
Total Exports	20
Food and live animals	5
Chemicals and related products	23
Machinery and transport equipment	28
Miscellaneous manufactured articles	13

Imports reach €67 billion in 2015

Imports in 2015 grew to €67,023 million, an increase of €6,158 million (+10%) over 2014.

Imports of Chemicals and related products accounted for €13,925 million (21%) of total imports in 2015, an increase of €2,482 million (+22%) compared with 2014.

Imports of Road vehicles in 2015 were €3,439 million, an increase of €859 million (+33%) over 2014, which is also an increase of €1,561 million (+83%) over 2013.

Imports of Machinery and transport equipment from the USA fell by €498 million (-10%) in 2015 compared with 2014, while imports of these products from China increased by €567 million (+34%) over the same period (see Table 5).

	Imports
Total Imports	10
Food and live animals	8
Mineral fuels	-21
Chemicals and related products	22
Machinery and transport equipment	12
Miscellaneous manufactured articles	18

Seasonally adjusted goods trade surplus increases in December

Preliminary figures for December 2015 show that seasonally adjusted goods exports increased by €656 million (+7%) to €9,868 million compared with November 2015.

Seasonally adjusted goods imports increased by €11 million to €5,899 million leading to an increase of €646 million (+19%) in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus to €3,970 million in December (see Table 2).

Exports of Medical and pharmaceutical products increase in December

The (unadjusted) value of goods exports for December 2015 was €8,709 million, an increase of €485 million (+6%) when compared with December 2014.

Exports of Medical and pharmaceutical products increased by €557 million (+27%) to €2,649 million.

Exports of Organic chemicals decreased by €216 million (-16%) to €1,162 million.

Exports of Professional, scientific and controlling apparatus increased by €87 million (+20%) to €520 million over the same comparative period (see Table 3).

Imports of Road vehicles increase

The (unadjusted) value of goods imports for December 2015 was €6,026 million representing an increase of €472 million (+8%) when compared with December 2014.
Imports of Road vehicles increased by €97 million (+28%) to €441 million in December 2015 compared with December 2014.
Imports of Organic chemicals increased by €325 million (+169%) to €517 million.
Imports of Petroleum fell by €25 million (-10%) to €232 million over the same comparative period (see Table 3).
The value of goods imports for December 2015 excluding SITC 79 (Other transport equipment, including aircraft) was €5,389 million, an increase of €820 million (+18%) when compared with the corresponding December 2014 figure of €4,569 million.

Geographic breakdown of goods exports and imports

The EU accounted for €4,331 million (50%) of total goods exports in December 2015 of which €1,176 million went to Great Britain and €984 million to Belgium.

The USA was the main non-EU destination accounting for €1,991 million (23%) of total exports in December 2015.

The EU accounted for 64% of the value of goods imports in December 2015, with €1,587 million (26%) of total imports coming from Great Britain.

The USA with €625 million (10%) and China with €383 million (6%) were the main non-EU sources of imports.

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	55,061	38,446	479.1	231.9	105.8	133.7	79.2
2013		89,182	54,772	34,409	460.6	238.8	103.9	131.6	78.9
2014		92,616	60,866	31,750	..	..	..	..	..
2015		111,038	67,023	44,015	..	..	..	..	..

2014	Quarter 1	21,765	14,913	6,852	454.3	253.2	103.1	133.5	77.2
	Quarter 2	23,559	14,431	9,128	491.0	247.7	102.3	132.9	76.9
	Quarter 3	23,271	15,032	8,239	467.4	246.6	104.7	133.0	78.7
	Quarter 4	24,021	16,489	7,531	474.3	273.9	106.3	131.6	80.8
2015	Quarter 1	26,080	16,480	9,600	..	..	..	..	..
	Quarter 2	28,692	16,544	12,148	..	..	..	..	..
	Quarter 3	27,483	16,099	11,384	..	..	..	..	..
	Quarter 4	28,782	17,899	10,883	..	..	..	..	..

2014	January	7,085	5,063	2,022	447.6	259.4	102.7	132.3	77.6
	February	6,959	4,493	2,466	427.8	228.5	104.9	134.9	77.7
	March	7,720	5,356	2,364	487.5	271.8	101.6	133.3	76.2
	April	7,322	4,748	2,573	461.9	244.5	100.9	132.8	76.0
	May	8,158	4,854	3,305	504.7	254.1	103.6	133.7	77.5
	June	8,080	4,829	3,250	506.4	244.5	102.3	132.3	77.3
	July	7,252	5,149	2,102	440.2	251.9	103.1	132.1	78.0
	August	7,773	4,678	3,095	467.9	233.8	104.9	132.9	78.9
	September	8,247	5,205	3,042	494.2	254.1	106.0	134.0	79.1
	October	7,932	5,469	2,464	477.2	272.0	105.4	131.8	80.0
	November	7,864	5,467	2,397	465.0	284.1	106.8	130.5	81.8
	December	8,224	5,554	2,670	480.7	265.7	106.6	132.5	80.5

2015⁴	January	8,290	5,240	3,050	..	..	..	..	..
	February	8,348	5,008	3,340	..	..	..	..	..
	March	9,443	6,232	3,210	..	..	..	..	..
	April	9,614	5,509	4,105	..	..	..	..	..
	May	9,167	5,392	3,775	..	..	..	..	..
	June	9,912	5,643	4,268	..	..	..	..	..
	July	9,655	5,666	3,989	..	..	..	..	..
	August	8,621	5,127	3,495	..	..	..	..	..
	September	9,207	5,306	3,900	..	..	..	..	..
	October	10,224	5,900	4,324	..	..	..	..	..
	November	9,849	5,973	3,876	..	..	..	..	..
	December	8,709	6,026	2,683	..	..	..	..	..
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. December 2015 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	13,256	8,475	445.1	227.4
	Quarter 2	22,023	13,733	8,290	455.0	235.5
	Quarter 3	22,935	13,844	9,090	476.8	243.1
	Quarter 4	22,660	13,999	8,661	468.6	250.2
2014	Quarter 1	21,807	14,149	7,658	453.5	242.3
	Quarter 2	23,183	14,519	8,665	487.3	248.6
	Quarter 3	23,369	15,929	7,439	469.0	259.3
	Quarter 4	24,624	16,454	8,171	483.5	273.7
2015	Quarter 1	26,321	15,694	10,627	..	..
	Quarter 2	28,448	16,825	11,622	..	..
	Quarter 3	27,219	16,958	10,261	..	..
	Quarter 4	29,367	17,607	11,760	..	..

2013	January	6,977	4,379	2,598	426.0	238.4
	February	7,170	4,510	2,660	446.7	224.7
	March	7,584	4,367	3,217	462.6	219.2
	April	7,531	4,519	3,012	460.2	232.3
	May	7,246	4,500	2,746	448.7	231.9
	June	7,246	4,714	2,532	456.1	242.2
	July	7,568	4,574	2,994	472.7	236.8
	August	7,876	4,834	3,042	488.7	257.0
	September	7,490	4,436	3,054	469.0	235.5
	October	7,501	4,650	2,851	467.1	244.7
	November	7,233	4,789	2,443	445.4	258.7
	December	7,927	4,560	3,367	493.2	247.2
2014	January	7,273	4,606	2,667	462.3	239.5
	February	7,415	4,494	2,921	450.8	231.6
	March	7,119	5,049	2,070	447.3	255.9
	April	7,080	4,461	2,619	452.4	232.5
	May	8,171	5,139	3,032	505.8	263.0
	June	7,932	4,918	3,014	503.7	250.2
	July	6,951	5,466	1,485	424.0	265.2
	August	8,388	5,253	3,135	505.7	258.7
	September	8,030	5,211	2,819	477.4	254.0
	October	7,873	5,394	2,479	465.6	264.9
	November	7,408	5,677	1,731	441.5	297.3
	December	9,343	5,382	3,961	543.4	258.9

2015	January	8,641	4,888	3,753	..	..
	February	8,966	5,183	3,783	..	..
	March	8,714	5,623	3,091	..	..
	April	9,740	5,549	4,190	..	..
	May	9,363	5,735	3,627	..	..
	June	9,345	5,541	3,805	..	..
	July	9,309	5,996	3,312	..	..
	August	9,145	5,634	3,511	..	..
	September	8,766	5,327	3,438	..	..
	October	10,287	5,820	4,467	..	..
	November	9,212	5,888	3,324	..	..
	December	9,868	5,899	3,970	..	..
¹Based on seasonal patterns up to December 2014. Accordingly all values in this table may have been revised.
.. Indices are not yet available.

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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
			Dec	Dec	Jan-Dec	Jan-Dec	Dec	Dec	Jan-Dec	Jan-Dec
			2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015
0	Food and live animals		830	914	9,350	9,853	577	708	6,189	6,659
	00	Live animals other than animals of Division 03	51	88	405	436	77	137	259	316
	01	Meat and meat preparations	345	328	3,331	3,482	78	88	869	958
	02	Dairy products and birds' eggs	137	151	1,835	1,789	61	53	765	695
	03	Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and preparations thereof	50	47	531	564	23	22	236	259
	04	Cereals and cereal preparations	29	33	350	399	79	99	961	1,014
	05	Vegetables and fruit	21	25	260	287	90	101	1,041	1,156
	06	Sugars, sugar preparations and honey	8	17	107	163	30	30	368	374
	07	Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices and manufactures thereof	25	30	354	370	40	49	449	543
	08	Feeding stuff for animals (excluding unmilled cereals)	24	30	239	295	58	83	775	779
	09	Miscellaneous edible products and preparations	141	165	1,936	2,068	42	46	465	564
1	Beverages and tobacco		104	118	1,147	1,289	76	80	837	878
	11	Beverages	98	114	1,076	1,242	71	72	749	785
	12	Tobacco and tobacco manufactures	6	4	72	47	5	8	87	92
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels		146	128	1,795	1,776	61	72	727	852
	21	Hides, skins and furskins, raw	11	9	162	152	0	0	0	0
	22	Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits	1	1	9	14	2	2	26	35
	23	Crude rubber (including synthetic and reclaimed)	0	0	4	1	0	2	18	15
	24	Cork and wood	8	8	153	153	13	12	127	154
	25	Pulp and waste paper	4	5	61	60	4	5	49	60
	26	Textile fibres and their wastes	9	11	133	143	2	2	21	19
	27	Crude fertilisers and minerals (excluding coal, petroleum and precious stones)	10	7	141	132	7	16	114	138
	28	Metalliferous ores and metal scrap	88	70	1,023	989	19	19	204	241
	29	Crude animal and vegetable materials nes	15	17	109	132	15	15	167	189
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials		37	39	847	795	384	337	6,477	5,127
	32	Coal, coke and briquettes	5	5	81	98	8	20	166	193
	33	Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials	28	32	728	641	257	232	4,951	3,704
	34	Gas, natural and manufactured	1	1	19	6	112	82	1,282	1,153
	35	Electric current	4	1	18	50	6	3	79	77
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes		5	6	62	57	16	20	217	241
	41	Animal oils and fats	4	5	52	49	2	2	14	15
	42	Fixed vegetable fats and oils	0	1	7	6	13	17	184	198
	43	Animal or vegetable fats and oils, processed; waxes	0	0	2	2	2	2	18	27
5	Chemicals and related products		4,273	4,716	51,569	64,157	938	1,346	11,443	13,925
	51	Organic chemicals	1,378	1,162	18,171	21,483	192	517	3,026	3,776
	52	Inorganic chemicals	8	6	170	153	23	32	207	272
	53	Dyeing, tanning and colouring materials	9	9	117	133	13	16	197	223
	54	Medical and pharmaceutical products	2,092	2,649	22,229	30,174	417	440	4,498	5,695
	55	Essential oils; perfume materials; toilet and cleansing preparations	510	578	6,939	7,994	112	124	1,134	1,337
	56	Fertilisers (other than those of Division 27)	0	0	3	5	34	41	415	448
	57	Plastics in primary forms	26	28	336	398	56	64	822	850
	58	Plastics in non-primary forms	28	34	421	499	38	42	513	557
	59	Chemical materials and products nes	223	251	3,184	3,318	52	69	632	769
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material		129	149	1,871	2,091	326	355	4,232	4,708
	61	Leather; leather manufactures nes; dressed furskins	2	2	35	35	1	2	20	23
	62	Rubber manufactures nes	5	5	69	74	20	22	294	318
	63	Cork and wood manufactures (excluding furniture)	16	16	241	241	15	19	201	254
	64	Paper, paperboard and articles thereof	11	13	154	150	68	76	832	918
	65	Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products	14	14	160	175	34	39	408	449
	66	Non-metallic mineral manufactures nes	25	28	352	415	35	39	432	504
	67	Iron and steel	9	10	138	194	40	49	588	640
	68	Non-ferrous metals	5	6	75	73	44	30	555	562
	69	Manufactures of metals nes	43	56	647	734	69	78	904	1,040
7	Machinery and transport equipment		1,435	1,278	12,100	15,489	2,411	2,218	22,288	24,938
	71	Power generating machinery and equipment	40	56	470	477	42	42	602	585
	72	Machinery specialised for particular industries	44	61	671	645	195	129	2,168	2,357
	73	Metalworking machinery	2	1	26	26	13	19	95	117
	74	General industrial machinery and equipment nes and parts nes	134	132	1,544	1,725	124	148	1,409	1,636
	75	Office machines and automatic data processing machines (including computers)	520	579	3,811	4,198	339	369	3,081	3,785
	76	Telecommunications and sound equipment	98	94	788	930	166	167	1,394	1,584
	77	Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances nes and parts	214	305	2,002	2,891	205	265	2,176	2,516
	78	Road vehicles (including air-cushion vehicles)	18	23	259	309	344	441	2,580	3,439
	79	Other transport equipment (including aircraft)	366	27	2,528	4,287	985	637	8,783	8,918
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles		1,091	1,203	12,628	14,254	631	740	6,898	8,163
	81	Prefab buildings; plumbing and electrical fixtures and fittings	9	13	129	154	16	21	194	235
	82	Furniture and parts thereof; bedding, cushions etc	11	14	140	171	34	41	372	442
	83	Travel goods, handbags and similar containers	2	1	17	22	14	16	120	147
	84	Articles of apparel; clothing accessories	27	28	258	305	144	173	1,643	1,870
	85	Footwear	4	5	37	44	27	35	324	405
	87	Professional, scientific and controlling apparatus nes	433	520	5,283	6,126	131	133	1,514	1,796
	88	Photographic apparatus; optical goods; watches and clocks	84	81	1,055	1,090	23	39	253	385
	89	Miscellaneous manufactured articles nes	521	540	5,710	6,342	242	281	2,479	2,883
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere		109	74	607	550	22	29	293	286
Unclassified estimates²			65	85	641	728	112	121	1,264	1,246

Total			8,224	8,709	92,616	111,038	5,554	6,026	60,865	67,023
¹ Trade statistics revised since 2000. December 2015 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 December 2015 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
	Dec	Dec	Jan-Dec	Jan-Dec	Dec	Dec	Jan-Dec	Jan-Dec
	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015
Austria	35	27	360	416	18	20	217	243
Belgium	866	984	11,805	14,574	109	121	1,133	1,277
Bulgaria	7	8	69	97	6	7	33	70
Croatia	3	3	29	33	0	1	5	18
Cyprus	2	5	19	40	0	0	2	3
Czech Republic	50	28	481	411	39	46	398	512
Denmark	52	48	594	602	37	29	419	439
Estonia	1	1	18	25	2	2	42	42
Finland	32	26	317	302	10	10	140	168
France	446	317	4,952	4,812	955	728	6,498	7,072
Germany	579	538	6,081	7,424	504	590	4,619	5,827
Great Britain	1,077	1,176	12,137	13,754	1,501	1,587	16,461	16,746
Greece	13	11	274	295	2	3	35	46
Hungary	22	24	247	321	10	7	124	112
Italy	169	129	2,113	2,543	85	87	950	1,178
Latvia	3	5	55	58	3	6	29	35
Lithuania	2	4	37	36	6	8	68	86
Luxembourg	10	7	81	66	4	2	39	39
Malta	3	2	24	38	1	1	8	14
Netherlands	369	420	4,143	4,879	239	218	2,654	2,622
Northern Ireland	137	138	1,605	1,731	94	92	1,104	1,084
Poland	81	94	963	1,192	43	53	441	536
Portugal	29	15	354	404	13	15	166	205
Romania	37	20	360	346	9	12	101	111
Slovakia	5	7	58	75	5	6	46	69
Slovenia	4	10	37	46	7	2	35	23
Spain	211	209	2,788	3,753	87	104	876	960
Sweden	125	64	902	873	33	43	509	472
EU Country not specified²	3	10	33	77	24	33	289	483
Total EU	4,370	4,331	50,936	59,221	3,846	3,834	37,442	40,491
of which Euro-Zone³	2,774	2,717	33,480	39,786	2,043	1,923	17,490	19,909

Australia	84	44	712	925	9	7	81	101
Brazil	17	19	256	241	31	12	535	468
Canada	48	67	722	891	19	36	373	434
China⁴	280	180	2,231	2,282	324	383	3,498	4,407
India	26	69	399	541	26	44	444	504
Japan	157	754	1,771	3,888	162	126	1,763	1,821
Malaysia	24	20	217	241	18	22	230	279
Mexico	74	109	1,216	1,394	21	33	313	363
Norway	24	24	320	300	83	74	938	1,205
Russia	29	19	722	369	13	9	226	160
Saudi Arabia	80	97	748	999	0	1	12	25
Singapore	45	59	561	607	24	43	350	421
South Africa	19	20	278	270	14	13	92	94
South Korea	43	46	466	518	78	43	483	559
Switzerland	475	274	5,255	6,095	79	266	1,253	1,354
Taiwan	11	42	146	197	26	44	245	368
Thailand	11	16	168	219	49	43	406	572
Turkey	27	41	628	576	46	51	436	496
USA	1,978	1,991	20,762	26,233	529	625	8,870	9,806
Other countries	401	461	3,979	4,984	119	205	2,411	2,361
Country unknown⁵	1	24	122	45	40	113	464	735

Total	8,224	8,709	92,616	111,038	5,554	6,026	60,865	67,023
¹ Trade statistics revised since 2000. December 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.

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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	Dec	Dec	Jan-Dec	Jan-Dec	Dec	Dec	Jan-Dec	Jan-Dec
		2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015
Great Britain		1,077	1,176	12,137	13,754	1,501	1,587	16,461	16,746
0	Food and live animals	354	415	3,561	3,901	273	351	2,551	2,824
1	Beverages and tobacco	20	24	257	245	30	31	308	305
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	28	27	412	395	11	13	142	167
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	29	30	398	442	296	207	4,175	3,143
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	1	1	12	12	3	4	40	44
5	Chemicals and related products	264	256	3,457	3,893	214	208	2,167	2,359
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	56	64	821	908	133	149	1,651	1,801
7	Machinery and transport equipment	200	227	1,927	2,516	252	294	2,582	2,906
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	92	98	982	1,110	218	256	2,107	2,438
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	32	34	313	333	69	74	737	758
Other EU²		3,293	3,155	38,799	45,467	2,345	2,247	20,981	23,746
0	Food and live animals	294	286	3,465	3,590	230	245	2,594	2,789
1	Beverages and tobacco	29	29	354	368	31	37	373	404
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	80	69	923	970	21	31	248	291
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	8	8	102	110	20	17	453	322
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	3	5	43	41	11	13	136	150
5	Chemicals and related products	1,656	1,664	22,778	27,521	373	431	4,464	4,924
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	50	54	749	830	116	115	1,588	1,708
7	Machinery and transport equipment	691	484	5,153	5,879	1,364	1,172	8,971	10,919
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	444	496	4,840	5,684	128	128	1,488	1,623
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	39	58	392	473	51	58	666	615
USA		1,978	1,991	20,762	26,233	529	625	8,870	9,806
0	Food and live animals	13	26	153	271	23	39	238	215
1	Beverages and tobacco	41	52	350	487	1	1	18	18
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	4	4	31	38	2	2	34	43
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	0	0	300	237	0	10	141	147
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	-	-	0	0	0	0	1	1
5	Chemicals and related products	1,430	1,348	13,759	17,082	184	285	2,111	3,190
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	7	16	119	144	24	27	298	374
7	Machinery and transport equipment	116	169	1,556	3,064	223	164	5,113	4,615
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	366	373	4,460	4,856	67	90	870	1,148
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	2	3	36	54	4	8	46	55
China³		280	180	2,231	2,282	324	383	3,498	4,407
0	Food and live animals	52	59	545	646	2	3	30	37
1	Beverages and tobacco	0	0	4	6	0	0	0	0
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	7	6	108	110	3	2	35	36
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	-	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0
5	Chemicals and related products	77	54	754	754	17	28	213	252
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	3	2	28	32	29	34	348	430
7	Machinery and transport equipment	117	25	490	350	166	190	1,690	2,257
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	23	33	299	382	103	122	1,134	1,347
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	0	0	0	0	4	4	48	47
Rest of World		1,596	2,207	18,687	23,301	856	1,184	11,056	12,319
0	Food and live animals	116	128	1,627	1,445	49	71	776	793
1	Beverages and tobacco	14	13	182	183	13	11	138	149
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	27	21	321	263	25	24	268	315
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	0	1	47	6	67	103	1,708	1,516
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	0	4	2	2	4	40	45
5	Chemicals and related products	846	1,394	10,822	14,907	150	394	2,489	3,200
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	14	13	154	177	24	30	347	394
7	Machinery and transport equipment	311	372	2,975	3,679	406	398	3,933	4,242
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	166	202	2,048	2,222	114	144	1,299	1,607
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	101	64	507	418	5	5	59	58

Total		8,224	8,709	92,616	111,038	5,554	6,026	60,865	67,023
¹ Trade statistics revised since 2000. December 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.

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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 (November 2015 in this publication), -4 (August 2015) and -8 (April 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 6,700 while around 1,900 must make a detailed export return. The response rate in terms of number of traders in December 2015 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 December 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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December 2015

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