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

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

CSO statistical release, 19 March 2014, 11am

Goods Exports and Imports

January 2014

Seasonally adjusted
€ million
	Exports	Imports	Surplus
August 2013	7,662	4,490	3,172
September 2013	7,318	4,114	3,204
October 2013	7,336	4,340	2,996
November 2013	6,971	4,422	2,549
December 2013	7,696	4,285	3,410
January 2014	7,217	4,119	3,098

Seasonally adjusted surplus down 9% in January

Goods Exports and Imports Seasonally adjusted

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Preliminary figures for January 2014 indicate a decrease in seasonally adjusted exports of €479 million (-6%) to €7,217 million from December 2013. Seasonally adjusted imports decreased by €166 million (-4%) to €4,119 million resulting in a 9% decrease in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus to €3,098 million (see Table 2).

Comparing January 2014 with January 2013, the value of exports increased by €302 million (+4%) to €7,031 million. The main drivers were increases of €223 million (+6%) in the exports of Chemicals and related products and €59 million (+9%) in the exports of Food and live animals.

On an overall basis the EU accounted for €3,806 million (54%) of total exports in January 2014. The USA was the main non-EU destination accounting for 23% (€1,635m) of total exports in January 2014.

Comparing January 2014 with January 2013, the value of imports rose by €86 million (+2%) to €4,528 million. Imports of Petroleum products and related materials increased by €137 million (+42%) and Chemicals and related products increased by €62 million (+7%). The EU accounted for 64% of the value of imports in January 2014, with 33% coming from Great Britain. The USA (9%) and China (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		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	49,151	42,538	479.1	231.9	105.8	133.7	79.2
2013		86,886	49,672	37,214	..	..	..	..	..

2012	January	7,678	4,466	3,212	483.9	251.4	104.7	134.2	78.0
	February	7,402	3,957	3,445	470.5	224.9	103.9	133.0	78.1
	March	8,628	4,987	3,640	548.1	286.5	103.9	131.7	78.9
	April	7,073	3,741	3,332	449.8	210.5	103.8	134.3	77.3
	May	7,631	4,066	3,564	479.3	231.8	105.2	132.5	79.4
	June	8,065	3,980	4,085	492.8	225.1	107.8	133.0	81.0
	July	7,808	3,799	4,009	482.2	212.9	107.1	134.5	79.7
	August	8,376	3,865	4,511	508.3	214.6	108.8	135.7	80.1
	September	7,464	4,204	3,260	465.4	242.5	106.8	134.9	79.2
	October	7,470	4,328	3,142	471.4	245.6	106.0	134.3	78.9
	November	8,317	4,042	4,275	524.5	224.0	105.2	133.6	78.8
	December	5,778	3,717	2,061	372.3	211.5	106.8	132.2	80.8
2013³	January	6,729	4,442	2,287	419.9	251.3	105.8	133.6	79.2
	February	6,619	3,913	2,706	424.1	222.4	103.1	133.0	77.5
	March	8,086	4,138	3,948	505.8	237.1	105.6	131.9	80.1
	April	7,473	4,239	3,234	462.8	239.0	106.6	134.0	79.6
	May	7,218	3,949	3,268	452.1	228.4	105.4	130.7	80.7
	June	7,333	3,978	3,355	462.8	225.7	104.6	133.2	78.6
	July	7,593	3,937	3,656	482.5	221.2	103.9	134.5	77.3
	August	6,972	3,985	2,987	439.9	230.9	104.7	130.4	80.3
	September	7,354	4,037	3,318	467.0	227.3	104.0	134.2	77.5
	October	7,290	4,382	2,907	468.6	249.1	102.7	133.0	77.3
	November	7,667	4,328	3,339	490.4	248.4	103.2	131.7	78.4
	December	6,553	4,344	2,209	417.0	247.2	103.8	132.8	78.2
2014	January⁴	7,031	4,528	2,503	..	..	..	..	..
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
⁴January 2014 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 seasonaly 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
2011	January	7,289	4,495	2,795	485.9	263.6
	February	8,051	4,322	3,729	535.5	251.8
	March	7,626	3,820	3,806	520.7	222.1
	April	7,577	4,919	2,658	495.4	289.2
	May	7,568	3,724	3,844	503.9	227.2
	June	7,840	3,833	4,007	537.2	228.2
	July	7,023	3,805	3,217	470.7	228.9
	August	7,784	3,986	3,798	524.5	240.5
	September	7,799	3,827	3,973	531.2	231.9
	October	7,461	3,861	3,601	501.9	233.9
	November	8,095	3,806	4,289	541.9	219.5
	December	7,113	4,129	2,984	488.7	239.5
2012	January	8,302	4,506	3,796	516.1	253.4
	February	7,286	3,730	3,557	462.3	214.8
	March	7,739	4,623	3,116	498.5	260.9
	April	7,029	3,584	3,445	443.4	202.3
	May	7,528	4,119	3,409	472.2	229.7
	June	7,471	4,012	3,459	459.5	228.3
	July	7,833	4,003	3,829	485.9	225.1
	August	9,188	4,215	4,973	561.3	232.0
	September	7,299	4,479	2,820	457.5	261.2
	October	7,492	4,216	3,276	465.4	238.1
	November	8,033	3,851	4,182	498.6	216.0
	December	6,539	3,801	2,738	430.2	218.5
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	7,123	4,169	2,953	453.0	235.1
	July	7,326	4,157	3,169	469.6	230.8
	August	7,662	4,490	3,172	485.7	254.9
	September	7,318	4,114	3,204	466.1	233.6
	October	7,336	4,340	2,996	464.3	240.5
	November	6,971	4,422	2,549	443.8	253.1
	December	7,696	4,285	3,410	490.2	245.2
2014	January	7,217	4,119	3,098	..	..
¹Based on seasonal patterns up to December 2013. Accordingly all values in this table may have been revised
.. Indices are not yet available

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Table 3 Goods Exports and Imports classified by commodity¹						€million
SITC (Rev 4)			Exports		Imports
			Exports		Imports
			January	January	January	January
			2013	2014	2013	2014
0	Food and live animals		638	697	485	526
	00	Live animals other than animals of Division 03	18	22	14	36
	01	Meat and meat preparations	234	251	66	67
	02	Dairy products and birds' eggs	106	119	48	65
	03	Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and preparations thereof	45	55	15	17
	04	Cereals and cereal preparations	23	26	81	85
	05	Vegetables and fruit	20	20	81	89
	06	Sugars, sugar preparations and honey	14	9	31	27
	07	Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices and manufactures thereof	33	34	32	35
	08	Feeding stuff for animals (excl. unmilled cereals)	21	19	86	71
	09	Miscellaneous edible products and preparations	124	142	32	35
1	Beverages and tobacco		89	77	46	45
	11	Beverages	82	74	39	39
	12	Tobacco and tobacco manufactures	7	3	7	5
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels		145	141	49	49
	21	Hides, skins and furskins, raw	12	13	0	0
	22	Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits	0	0	2	2
	23	Crude rubber (incl. synthetic and reclaimed)	0	0	1	1
	24	Cork and wood	10	10	6	10
	25	Pulp and waste paper	5	5	5	3
	26	Textile fibres and their wastes	13	9	1	1
	27	Crude fertilisers and minerals (excl. coal, petroleum and precious stones)	13	13	8	8
	28	Metalliferous ores and metal scrap	83	81	16	11
	29	Crude animal and vegetable materials nes	8	9	9	11
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials		51	69	493	629
	32	Coal, coke and briquettes	5	6	30	8
	33	Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials	44	61	327	464
	34	Gas, natural and manufactured	0	1	136	151
	35	Electric current	1	0	1	6
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes		6	4	19	16
	41	Animal oils and fats	5	3	1	1
	42	Fixed vegetable fats and oils	1	1	16	13
	43	Animal or vegetable fats and oils, processed; waxes	0	0	3	2
5	Chemicals and related products		3,965	4,188	924	986
	51	Organic chemicals	1,463	1,685	241	294
	52	Inorganic chemicals	15	13	16	20
	53	Dyeing, tanning and colouring materials	20	10	16	15
	54	Medical and pharmaceutical products	1,617	1,638	366	374
	55	Essential oils; perfume materials; toilet and cleansing preparations	527	527	81	79
	56	Fertilisers (other than those of Division 27)	0	0	49	40
	57	Plastics in primary forms	28	25	71	65
	58	Plastics in non-primary forms	30	32	34	42
	59	Chemical materials and products nes	263	259	50	57
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material		126	159	305	334
	61	Leather; leather manufactures nes; dressed furskins	1	2	1	1
	62	Rubber manufactures nes	5	5	24	24
	63	Cork and wood manufactures (excl. furniture)	19	20	12	15
	64	Paper, paperboard and articles thereof	11	15	67	66
	65	Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and related products	11	13	28	31
	66	Non-metallic mineral manufactures nes	19	23	30	33
	67	Iron and steel	9	10	43	45
	68	Non-ferrous metals	5	6	34	48
	69	Manufactures of metals nes	45	64	66	71
7	Machinery and transport equipment		758	737	1,477	1,251
	71	Power generating machinery and equipment	46	50	79	85
	72	Machinery specialised for particular industries	36	35	78	241
	73	Metalworking machinery	2	3	6	5
	74	General industrial machinery and equipment nes and parts nes	94	105	96	107
	75	Office machines and automatic data processing machines	288	284	272	256
	76	Telecommunications and sound equipment	62	49	98	105
	77	Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances nes and parts	189	144	165	178
	78	Road vehicles (incl. air-cushion vehicles)	19	17	194	246
	79	Other transport equipment	22	50	489	27
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles		857	889	468	512
	81	Prefab buildings; plumbing and electrical fixtures and fittings	8	11	13	16
	82	Furniture and parts thereof; bedding, cushions etc	8	15	23	29
	83	Travel goods, handbags and similar containers	1	1	9	8
	84	Articles of apparel; clothing accessories	16	14	125	120
	85	Footwear	2	3	25	24
	87	Professional, scientific and controlling apparatus nes	278	360	91	121
	88	Photographic apparatus; optical goods; watches and clocks	90	88	17	19
	89	Miscellaneous manufactured articles nes	454	398	165	174
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere		57	10	92	97
Unclassified estimates²			39	61	83	84

Total			6,729	7,031	4,442	4,528
¹January 2014 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes
² Estimates for which a commodity classification is not available

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Table 4 Goods Exports and Imports classified by country¹				€million

Country	Exports		Imports
	January	January	January	January
	2013	2014	2013	2014
Austria	50	39	14	14
Belgium	729	856	84	85
Bulgaria	4	5	1	6
Croatia²	-	2	-	0
Cyprus	2	2	0	0
Czech Republic	30	46	32	44
Denmark	45	49	30	34
Estonia	1	2	2	2
Finland	34	29	9	12
France	332	315	184	164
Germany	508	441	410	388
Great Britain	949	897	1,275	1,483
Greece	25	26	3	2
Hungary	21	14	8	8
Italy	224	203	73	68
Latvia	4	2	2	2
Lithuania	2	3	7	2
Luxembourg	4	4	4	3
Malta	2	2	2	1
Netherlands	288	298	272	226
Northern Ireland	109	125	81	85
Poland	55	75	32	33
Portugal	26	22	11	10
Romania	32	33	9	6
Slovakia	5	5	6	11
Slovenia	2	3	1	4
Spain	177	249	66	62
Sweden	62	51	37	35
EU Country not specified³	2	6	99	118
Total EU	3,726	3,806	2,752	2,908
of which Euro-Zone⁴	2,410	2,499	1,139	1,054

Australia	53	59	7	6
Brazil	21	18	15	9
Canada	55	46	21	13
China	188	147	227	292
India	18	17	32	34
Japan	151	198	80	243
Malaysia	23	15	18	17
Mexico	55	57	20	23
Norway	37	27	64	86
Russia	48	46	20	15
Saudi Arabia	58	41	0	0
Singapore	45	45	29	61
South Africa	19	18	4	4
South Korea	26	26	37	35
Switzerland	212	446	84	116
Taiwan	7	10	15	17
Thailand	8	16	27	33
Turkey	41	40	24	39
USA	1,611	1,635	757	425
Other countries	326	314	121	128
Country unknown⁵	2	4	87	24

Total	6,729	7,031	4,442	4,528
¹January 2014 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes
²Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013
³Includes estimates for traders below the Intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU
country was not specified
⁴Euro-zone members from January 2014: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Finland, France,
Luxembourg, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia,
Estonia and Lativa
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	January	January	January	January
		2013	2014	2013	2014
Great Britain		949	897	1,275	1,483
0	Food and live animals	257	259	190	217
1	Beverages and tobacco	17	16	16	15
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	30	32	12	11
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	40	58	371	549
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	3	1	4	3
5	Chemicals and related products	345	263	145	166
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	51	63	127	126
7	Machinery and transport equipment	113	104	216	200
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	75	74	149	152
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	19	28	45	43
Other EU^2,3		2,780	2,906	1,478	1,425
0	Food and live animals	232	258	212	209
1	Beverages and tobacco	25	23	25	20
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	73	72	15	18
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	10	10	57	15
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	2	2	12	10
5	Chemicals and related products	1,716	1,817	371	424
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	54	59	115	125
7	Machinery and transport equipment	300	307	460	364
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	342	320	94	113
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	25	38	118	126
USA		1,611	1,635	757	425
0	Food and live animals	10	10	27	27
1	Beverages and tobacco	30	25	0	1
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	2	2	3	3
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	0	0	0	0
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	-	-	0	0
5	Chemicals and related products	1,224	1,184	149	132
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	9	23	19	27
7	Machinery and transport equipment	62	85	493	168
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	270	303	61	64
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	4	3	3	4
China⁴		188	147	227	292
0	Food and live animals	26	25	1	3
1	Beverages and tobacco	0	0	0	0
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	9	9	2	3
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	0	0	0	0
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	0	0	0
5	Chemicals and related products	56	58	13	21
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	1	2	23	30
7	Machinery and transport equipment	76	33	104	141
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	19	20	81	90
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	0	0	3	3
Rest of World		1,202	1,445	705	903
0	Food and live animals	114	146	55	70
1	Beverages and tobacco	17	12	5	8
2	Crude materials, inedible, except fuels	30	26	17	13
3	Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials	0	0	65	65
4	Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes	0	0	3	3
5	Chemicals and related products	624	865	246	243
6	Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material	11	13	21	25
7	Machinery and transport equipment	206	209	204	378
8	Miscellaneous manufactured articles	152	172	84	92
9	Commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere	49	2	7	5

Total		6,729	7,031	4,442	4,528
¹ January 2014 is based on current Intrastat response levels, see background notes
²Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013
³Includes estimates for traders below the Intrastat threshold and transactions where the EU country was not specified
⁴ 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

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 (December 2013 in this publication), -4 (September 2013) and -8 (May 2013) 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 January 2014 was 61%, covering an estimated 88% of the total value of intra-EU trade (these response rates will have increased by the next time we publish data for January).

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.

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

January 2014

Seasonally adjusted surplus down 9% in January

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