Seasonally adjusted goods exports decreased by €531 million (-5%) to €10,373 million in March 2018, according to preliminary figures from the Central Statistics Office.
Seasonally adjusted goods imports also decreased by €601 million (-9%) to €6,344 million, leading to a slight increase of €70 million (+2%) in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus to €4,029 million in March.
However, adjusted goods exports for the first quarter increased by 10% when compared to the previous quarter. Imports fell by 1% against the same period.
Food And Livestock
Ireland’s exports of food and live animals fell by 3% year-to-year in March, However, it was up marginally in the first quarter, by 0.8% year-to-year.
Meat and dairy exports both saw significant growth, which helped to offset negative and flat growth from the rest of the categories, such as fish, fruit and vegetables and animal feed.
Meat experienced 8% growth in March and a 7% increase in the first quarter (both year-to-year), while dairy recorded an 18% jump in March and a 19% increase in the first quarter (both year-to-year)
However, surplus in these categories was greatly effected by an almost equal rise in imports.
Food and live animals imports rose by 1.8% in March and by 4.5% in the first quarter (both year-to-year)
Meat imports fell by 1% in March, but rose by 11% for the quarter, while dairy imports rose by 18.8% in March and by 16% in the first quarter (both year-to-year).
Ireland’s largest imported category was fruit and vegetables, which saw a 6.9% decrease in March, but experienced a marginal increase of 1% in the first quarter (both year-to-year).
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
