Trading intensity with the UK describes the proportion of trading enterprises’ total exports/imports with the UK.
8,626 enterprises exported goods from Ireland in 2016. About 40% of these enterprises traded exclusively with the UK, exporting €2.3 billion of goods, or 16% of total exports to the UK. Just over 20% of exporting enterprises did not export any goods to the UK.
In 2016, 30,807 enterprises imported goods into Ireland. Around 10,500 of these imported goods only from the UK, recording imports of €3.9 billion. Around 4,500 importers had no trade with the UK.
| UK Trade as % of total trade | 1-24% | 25-49% | 50-74% | 75-79% | >99% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exports | 4031.99108471202 | 2191.90967306422 | 2152.87516800829 | 4156.95579424577 | 2317.04163251862 |
| Imports | 2295.84966132827 | 2113.38729640517 | 3133.25879066289 | 9092.77021323561 | 3880.12228075169 |
| Table 7.1 Trading intensity with the UK | |||||||
| UK trade as % of total | Exports | Imports | |||||
| Number of enterprises | €million | Number of enterprises | €million | ||||
| Total UK trade | Total trade | Total UK trade | Total trade | ||||
| UK trade 0% | 1,846 | 14,794 | 4,490 | 14,382 | |||
| UK trade 1-24% | 993 | 4,032 | 86,599 | 4,901 | 2,296 | 33,911 | |
| UK trade 25-49% | 506 | 2,192 | 6,492 | 2,548 | 2,113 | 6,051 | |
| UK trade 50-74% | 534 | 2,153 | 3,429 | 2,563 | 3,133 | 4,907 | |
| UK trade 75-99% | 1,366 | 4,157 | 4,600 | 5,747 | 9,093 | 10,073 | |
| UK trade >99% | 3,381 | 2,317 | 2,317 | 10,558 | 3,880 | 3,880 | |
| Total | 8,626 | 14,851 | 118,230 | 30,807 | 20,515 | 73,204 | |
Looking at the type of enterprises who had the UK as their only export market, the largest sector was Wholesale/Retail at 44% of enterprises, followed by Other Manufacturing and Construction sector which made up 23% of enterprises.
Analysed by company size, two thirds of companies who had the UK as their only export market had fewer than 10 employees. SMEs in total accounted for 94% of UK only exporting firms.
| Sector | Number of enterprises |
|---|---|
| Agri/food | 244 |
| Pharma- ceuticals | 30 |
| Wholesale /retail | 1498 |
| Other manufacturing and construction | 771 |
| Services/ other | 681 |
| Unknown | 157 |
| Number of enterprises | |
| Micro | 2274 |
| Small | 779 |
| Medium | 145 |
| Large | 26 |
| Unknown | 157 |
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