Irish exports decreased by €1,466 million (-12%) to €10,922 million in February.
Exports to Great Britain decreased by €98 million (-9%) to €1,051 million in February 2018 compared with February 2017, according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) preliminary figures.
The recently published report indicates that this fall was largely due to decreases in the exports of chemicals and related products and machinery and transport equipment.
Overall exports of electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances decreased by €343 million (-47%) to €385 million.
Imports Increase
On the other hand, the figures highlighted that the (unadjusted) value of goods imports for February 2018 was €6,368 million representing an increase of €36 million (+1%) when compared with February 2017.
The value of goods imports for January and February was €12,819 million, which is an increase of €679 million (+6%) compared with the first two months of 2017.
Imports from Great Britain increased by €107 million (+9%) to €1,351 million compared with February 2017.
There were small increases in the imports of Food and live animals, Mineral fuels and Machinery and transport equipment.
Geographic Exports Breakdown
TThe EU accounted for €5,337 million (52%) of total goods exports in February 2018 of which €1,543 million went to Belgium and €797 million went to Germany, the CSO figures showed.
Total EU exports in February increased by €327 million (+7%) compared with February 2017.
The USA was the main non-EU destination accounting for €2,906 million (28%) of total exports in February 2018.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
