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International Accounts Q2 2023

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €45.9bn in Quarter 2 2023

Online ISSN: 2565-6384

CSO statistical publication, 01 September 2023, 11am

Ireland’s trade balance at €45.9bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, fell by €3.3bn in the second quarter of 2023 over the same period in 2022, mainly due to decreased contract manufacturing exports which were partially offset by increased computer service exports.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q1 2021	67.573	40.353
Q2 2021	67.62	40.586
Q3 2021	71.836	41.141
Q4 2021	73.712	43.636
Q1 2022	78.365	52.203
Q2 2022	85.341	52.868
Q3 2022	94.971	53.698
Q4 2022	95.752	49.68
Q1 2023	88.977	50.868
Q2 2023	76.365	51.32

Merchandise exports were €76.4bn in the second quarter of 2023, a decrease of €9bn compared with the same quarter of 2022.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q1 2021	25.379	21.397
Q2 2021	27.698	25.839
Q3 2021	26.794	23.052
Q4 2021	32.369	29.261
Q1 2022	32.104	29.222
Q2 2022	37.404	35.813
Q3 2022	41.387	38.162
Q4 2022	41.251	35.621
Q1 2023	32.984	32.11
Q2 2023	37.885	34.074

Merchandise imports were €37.9bn in the second quarter of 2023, an increase of €0.5bn compared with the same period in 2022.

	Q2 2023	Q2 2022
Computer Services	52.623	48.871
Business Services	16.167	14.404
Financial Services	5.538	5.424
Insurance	3.839	3.738
Other Services n.e.s	3.469	2.857
Royalties/Licences	3.068	3.494
Transport	2.813	1.932
Tourism and Travel	2.266	1.884
Repairs and Processing	0.905	0.541
Communications	0.04	0.041

Service exports, at €90.7bn, increased by €7.5bn compared to the second quarter of 2022, mainly due to higher computer services exports (which increased by €3.8bn) and higher business services exports (which increased by €1.8bn).

	Q2 2023	Q2 2022
Business Services	34.619	31.483
Royalties/Licences	30.468	32.601
Financial Services	4.934	4.953
Insurance	3.722	3.551
Tourism and Travel	2.517	2.124
Computer Services	2.461	2.357
Repairs and Processing	2.341	2.56
Transport	1.353	1.514
Other Services n.e.s	0.743	0.636
Communications	0.164	0.161

Service imports, at €83.3bn, were up €1.4bn compared to the second quarter of 2022, mainly due to increased business service imports (which grew by €3.1bn).

	Royalties/Licences Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q1 2021	3.221	0.033	1.981
Q2 2021	3.513	0.038	2.227
Q3 2021	3.675	0.03	2.245
Q4 2021	5.097	0.058	3.243
Q1 2022	3.458	0.063	2.333
Q2 2022	3.494	0.069	1.905
Q3 2022	3.033	0.038	0
Q4 2022	4.143	0.056	0
Q1 2023	3.779	0.042	1.103
Q2 2023	3.068	0.085	1.193

	Royalties/Licences Imports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q1 2021	22.739	3.14	0
Q2 2021	26.412	4.825	0
Q3 2021	27.647	3.655	0
Q4 2021	36.366	6.856	0
Q1 2022	29.032	3.969	0
Q2 2022	32.601	7.859	0
Q3 2022	32.891	7.823	0
Q4 2022	41.424	11.288	0
Q1 2023	37.081	6.063	0
Q2 2023	30.468	6.685	0

Please note: The figures for royalties/licences imports of which information and communication are suppressed due to confidentiality requirements.

Royalties/licences imports were €30.5bn in the second quarter of 2023, down €2.1bn on the same period in 2022.

Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports										€ million
			2021	2022	2022					2023
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2
Services		Exports	299,781	339,622	78,462	83,185	86,488	91,487	83,194	90,727
		Imports	294,332	339,857	71,495	81,940	88,506	97,916	84,019	83,323
	Repairs and Processing	Exports	1,720	2,635	585	541	755	754	711	905
		Imports	8,190	11,165	2,302	2,560	2,702	3,601	3,213	2,341
	Transport	Exports	2,894	7,795	872	1,932	3,206	1,785	1,634	2,813
		Imports	4,751	6,066	1,302	1,514	1,733	1,517	1,218	1,353
	Tourism and Travel¹	Exports	2,273	6,686	736	1,884	2,471	1,595	1,283	2,266
		Imports	2,166	8,054	864	2,124	3,162	1,904	1,781	2,517
	Insurance	Exports	13,339	14,825	3,700	3,738	3,603	3,784	3,928	3,839
		Imports	10,354	14,172	3,602	3,551	3,526	3,493	3,536	3,722
	Financial services	Exports	23,195	21,836	5,606	5,424	5,517	5,289	5,244	5,538
		Imports	20,698	19,808	5,090	4,953	4,900	4,865	4,598	4,934
	Royalties/Licences	Exports	15,506	14,128	3,458	3,494	3,033	4,143	3,779	3,068
		Imports	113,164	135,948	29,032	32,601	32,891	41,424	37,081	30,468
	of which: Pharmaceutical products and preparations	Exports	159	226	63	69	38	56	42	85
		Imports	18,476	30,939	3,969	7,859	7,823	11,288	6,063	6,685
	Information and communication	Exports	9,696	7,339	2,333	1,905	*	*	1,103	1,193
		Imports	80,392	88,582	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Communications	Exports	237	158	40	41	38	39	38	40
		Imports	755	640	159	161	162	158	158	164
	Computer services²	Exports	173,750	195,719	45,520	48,871	48,812	52,516	49,636	52,623
		Imports	9,388	9,473	2,029	2,357	2,564	2,523	2,160	2,461
	Business services	Exports	54,075	63,786	15,610	14,404	17,116	16,656	13,761	16,167
		Imports	123,026	132,164	26,605	31,483	36,290	37,786	29,716	34,619
	Research and development	Exports	6,369	7,176	1,610	1,617	1,630	2,319	1,381	1,860
		Imports	45,821	45,133	8,115	10,327	13,033	13,658	7,946	9,833
	of which: IP related	Exports	1,327	1,764	555	*	*	513	8	*
		Imports	18,209	8,080	1,026	*	*	773	542	278
	Operational leasing	Exports	17,981	18,254	4,492	4,343	4,640	4,779	4,509	4,922
		Imports	1,596	1,695	388	404	445	458	383	326
	Misc. business services³	Exports	29,726	38,356	9,508	8,444	10,846	9,558	7,872	9,385
		Imports	75,610	85,336	18,102	20,752	22,812	23,670	21,387	24,461
	Other services n.e.s.	Exports	12,793	12,056	2,334	2,857	1,938	4,927	3,181	3,469
		Imports	1,840	2,365	510	636	575	644	559	743
¹Under the credit item, passenger fare receipts of resident carriers from foreign visitors are excluded; such receipts are included under transport credits - see Background Notes.
²Covers exports and imports of software that were not incorporated as part of computer hardware or physical media but separately transmitted by electronic means. The value of sales and purchases of additional software licences is also included.
³Covers mainly advertising and inter-affiliate management charges.

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Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports										€ million
			2021	2022	2022					2023
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2
Current Account
Merchandise¹		Exports	280,741	354,429	78,365	85,341	94,971	95,752	88,977	76,365
		Imports	112,240	152,146	32,104	37,404	41,387	41,251	32,984	37,885

	International trade	Exports	165,716	208,449	52,203	52,868	53,698	49,680	50,868	51,320
		Imports	99,549	138,818	29,222	35,813	38,162	35,621	32,110	34,074
	Goods for processing	Exports	101,456	131,975	18,450	32,280	37,397	43,848	35,008	20,349
		Imports	9,021	8,273	1,971	-98	1,492	4,908	-25	2,091
	Other conceptual adjustments	Exports	-10,551	-10,093	-1,406	-2,227	-2,389	-4,071	-2,464	-695
		Imports	3,670	5,055	911	1,689	1,733	722	898	1,721
	Merchanting (net export)	Exports	24,121	24,099	9,119	2,421	6,264	6,295	5,565	5,390
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

International Accounts Q2 2023

Goods and Services

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €45.9bn in Quarter 2 2023

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