These tables from the Central Statistics Office analyse goods exports and imports data from the point of view of the activity and the size of the enterprises engaged in trade in goods. This differs from the traditional focus of trade statistics, which is on the products being traded. In other words, this publication deals with who is trading rather than what is being traded.
Data on exports and imports of goods which are collected by Revenue (VIMA) via the Intrastat survey and customs and VAT declarations are matched with the CSO’s Business Register to provide information including NACE activity classification, size of the enterprises engaged in the trade of goods, ownership of enterprises and export intensity.
The tables are Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (TEC) data which the CSO supplies to Eurostat on an annual basis under REGULATION (EU) 2019/21
TEC01 - Breakdown of value and number of enterprises by NACE 4-digit activity level.
TEC02 - Breakdown of value and number of enterprises by NACE 3-digit activity level and number of employees and self-employed persons.
TEC03 - Breakdown of value and number of enterprises by country and region and aggregate NACE activity level. The countries included are the EU27 and most important partner countries.
TEC04 - Breakdown of value and number of enterprises by country and region and number of employees and self-employed persons. The countries included are the EU27 and most important partner countries.
TEC05 - Breakdown of value and number of enterprises by aggregate NACE activity level and number of partner countries.
TEC06 - Breakdown of value by aggregate NACE activity level and concentration of trade, showing the value of the top 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 exporting and importing enterprises.
TEC07 - Breakdown of value and number of enterprises by NACE 3-digit activity level and type of trader, i.e., importer only, exporter only and two-way trader.
TEC08 - Breakdown of value and number of enterprises by NACE 3-digit activity level and exports intensity, i.e., percentage of turnover exported.
TEC09 - Breakdown of value and number of enterprises by NACE 3-digit activity level and type of ownership of enterprise.
TEC10 - Breakdown of value by NACE 3-digit activity level and CPA division level.
TEC11 - Breakdown of value and number of enterprises of the population of trading enterprises, defining enterprises matched with CSO Business Register.
The economic activities used are the NACE Rev. 2 statistical classifications of economic activities in the EU. The broad activity classifications used in this publication cover the following areas:
| Economic Activity | NACE Classifications |
|---|---|
| Industry | NACE B -Mining & Quarrying |
| NACE C - Manufacturing | |
| NACE D - Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply | |
| NACE E - Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities | |
| Wholesale & Retail | NACE G - Wholesale & retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles |
| Other Activities | NACE A - Agriculture, forestry & fishing |
| NACE F - Construction | |
| NACE H-U Services |
| Enterprise Size | Number of Employees |
|---|---|
| Micro | 0-9 Employees |
| Small | 10-49 Employees |
| Medium | 50-249 Employees |
| Large | 250+ Employees |
The Trade by Enterprise Characteristics data relies on matching trade data to the Business Register to get information on the sector (NACE) and size of a company.
However not all the received trade data can be matched to an enterprise on the business register. The table below shows the value of the total trade in goods, and the value of the data for which enterprise characteristics were available. Around 97% of the value of trade is covered by the TEC data release.
Value of trade in goods with available enterprise characteristics from Business Register.
| All countries excluding EU27 |
EU27 countries |
|||||
| Trade Flow/Year | Total Extra-EU Trade in Goods* | Total trade of enterprises matched to the Business Register | Unmatched data as % share of Total | Total Intra-EU Trade in Goods* | Total trade of enterprises matched to the Business Register | Unmatched data as % share of Total |
| Exports |
€million |
€million |
||||
| 2020 | 94,098 | 90,985 | 3% | 63,794 | 61,628 | 3% |
| 2021 | 99,725 | 96,262 | 3% | 61,448 | 61,222 | 0% |
| 2022 | 123,124 | 119,132 | 3% | 80,308 | 80,105 | 0% |
| Imports | ||||||
| 2020 | 54,580 | 52,305 | 4% | 32,621 | 31,016 | 5% |
| 2021 | 63,237 | 59,400 | 6% | 38,717 | 38,424 | 1% |
| 2022 | 91,607 | 86,437 | 6% | 48,575 | 48,309 | 1% |
*On a special trade basis
The trade recorded here is on a ‘special trade’ basis, while the monthly trade statistical release is calculated on a ‘general trade’ basis. Under the ‘general trade’ system exports and imports are recorded at the time the goods are moved across the boundary of the State.
In particular this means that goods imported into a custom bonded warehouse are recorded at the time of entry into the country. On a ‘special trade’ basis, goods are recorded as imported at the time of their release from the warehouse.
Changes in the count of the number of traders occurred from 2021 due to two events. The UK left the EU, and therefore all trade in goods between Ireland and Great Britain had to be captured on customs declarations. Secondly, a new customs declaration system meant that all goods movements must be captured on customs declarations, including low value transactions which were previously exempt. This created a significant increase in customs declarations for all Non-EU countries.
The results presented in these tables include only enterprises whose value of exports or imports exceeds €1,000 in a calendar year. This minimises the effect of the new customs declaration system on trader count and makes the Intra-EU and Extra-EU data more comparable. Previously published TEC data had set a threshold of €5,000.
Profile of Trading Enterprises
The share of trade below the €1,000 threshold is very low. In 2022, there were 14,347 traders whose imports were below €1,000, but the value of this trade was only €4.6 million. For exporters, there were 2,471 traders with exports less than €1,000 in 2022, with a total export value of less than €1 million.
| Trade Flow | Number of Enterprises below €1k | €million | Number of Enterprises above €1k | €million |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exports | 2,471 | 0.7 | 11,769 | 199,237 |
| Imports | 14,347 | 5 | 49,517 | 134,746 |
Rules on confidentiality of trade data are specified under REGULATION (EU) 2019/2152.
The monthly trade data published by the CSO uses ‘passive confidentiality’, which means that all export and import data is published, unless a trading enterprise specifically requests confidentiality assessment.
In these TEC tables, ‘active confidentiality’ is used. Any category where there are small number of enterprises, or where a value of a small number of enterprises are dominant, data are marked confidential.
Secondary confidentiality may also be applied where there is only one confidential flag within an aggregate.
In the published tables, confidential data is marked as with a double dot “ ..”
In csv files downloaded from the CSO website, confidential data will be shown as a blank cell. Any cell marked “0” means that the value for that category is zero.
The country of import of goods can be defined in two ways: country of origin or country of consignment. The country of origin is the country from which the goods originate.
The country of consignment is the last Member State where a change has been made to the goods, for example, where there is a change of ownership of the goods, or goods are repackaged or further processed in some way. Note that in the case where the goods simply transit through a Member State, that Member State is not recorded in the trade statistics at all.
The CSO’s monthly statistical release records imports by country of origin. The data in this release and which the CSO transmits to Eurostat, and is published on its COMEXT database, are recorded by country of consignment.
It is important to note that the value of our total imports is the same when the two different methodologies are used. The only difference is the country which we record as the one from which the good is imported. This difference only affects imports. Our exports are recorded by country of final destination; the last country to which the goods are specifically directed.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.