Press Statement
Preasráiteas
14 December 2020
Ireland's Trade in Goods 2019
Ireland exported €152 billion of goods in 2019 and imported €91 billion
- Ireland exported €47 billion of goods, almost one-third of total exports, to the USA in 2019, making it our largest single export market
- There were €79 billion of goods exported to Europe in 2019, and nearly half of this was exported to Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands combined while the UK accounted for a further €15.7 billion
- Almost €57 billion of goods were imported from Europe, of which more than €20 billion came from the UK, our largest import partner
- Asia accounted for €17.4 billion of our exports in 2019, making it a larger export destination than any country in Europe with €8.2 billion exported to China
- More than €1.2 billion of Ireland’s imports of clothing and apparel came from Asia in 2019, comprising over 60% of total imports of these products
- Ireland exported €1.7 billion to Africa and €700 million to South America in 2019
Go to release : Ireland's Trade in Goods 2019
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (14 December 2020) released Ireland’s Trade in Goods 2019.
Commenting on the release, Ciarán Counihan, Statistician, said: ‘In 2019, Ireland exported €152 billion of goods and imported €91 billion.
More than €57 billion of our exports went to EU countries, and a further €15 billion was exported to the UK. Ireland imported more than €33 billion from the EU and €20 billion from the UK. We also imported €14 billion from the USA and more than €12 billion from Asia.’
Editor's Note:
Products
- Almost one-third (€49 billion) of all our exports in 2019 were medical and pharmaceutical products
- Organic chemicals accounted for €30 billion of exports
- More than €21 billion of our imports in 2019 were aircraft, mainly due to the activities of aircraft leasing companies
- Ireland imported more than €2 billion of clothing and apparel, of which over 60% came from Asia
- There were more than 56 million ladies’ and girls’ T-shirts imported and over 30 million ladies’ and girls’ jumpers. Of these, 46 million and 23 million respectively came from Asia
Trade with the UK
- The proportion of our trade with the UK has fallen from 28% of total exports in 1994 to 10% in 2019, and from 37% of total imports in 1994 to 22% in 2019
- We exported almost €4 billion of food and beverages to the UK in 2019 and imported €4.3 billion
Trade with Asia
- Exports to Asia have grown from €1.3 billion in 1994 to €17.4 billion in 2019, while imports have grown from €2.8 billion to €12.3 billion over the same period
- Our largest trading partners in Asia are China and Japan
- We exported €8.2 billion to China in 2019, of which €5.7 billion was machinery and equipment, and exported €2.8 billion to Japan
- In 2019, we imported more than €5 billion from China, €1.1 billion from Japan, and a further €1 billion from both Malaysia and South Korea
Other Trade
- Ireland exported €1.7 billion to Africa in 2019. Our largest export partner was South Africa, with exports of €413 million
- There were €867 million of exports to Oceania, and €170 million of imports. The largest value product was wine, with €30 million imported from Australia and €24 million from New Zealand
- Ireland exported more than €700 million to South America, of which €305 million went to Brazil
- There were €670 million of imports from South America, which included 16.5 million litres of wine from Chile, 145,000 tonnes of coal from Colombia and 10,500 tonnes of apples
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