Trade surplus increases by €1bn in May
The value of goods exports from January to May 2020 was €67,702m; a 6% rise in the same period last year.
There was a hike in the export of medical and pharmaceutical products to 44% or €5,203m accounting for 40% of the total exports for the month of May.
The export of organic chemicals was down 21% to €774m while the export of professional, scientific and controlling apparatus fell to €189m, 29% less than the same month last year.
Of the goods exported 9% went to Britain while 38% went to the EU market, a decrease of 8% for the same period last year.
Seasonally adjusted goods imports dropped by €1.5bn or 20% to €5,857 in the month of May. There was a 8% decrease in imported goods in the first five months of the year when compared to the same period last year.
The largest increase in imports was in organic chemicals, with the category up 72% to €981 million. Meanwhile, the import of transport equipment, including aircraft was down significantly to 89%, as was the import of petroleum which fell 41% compared with the same time last year.
Office machines and automatic data processing equipment declined by €112m or 22%.
Of the goods imported to Ireland, 23% came from across the pond, which was 3% less from the same time last year. The value of those imports was also down to €7,690m, a drop of 4%.
The EU accounted for 28% of our total imports, a 43% reduction when compared with May 2019. The main non-EU sources of imports came from Switzerland (13%), the USA (11%) and China (10%).