Official figures show a drop in the trade surplus for May as exports fell back and imports increased.
Preliminary seasonally adjusted data from the Central Statistics Office show that exports fell back 2% from April to just under €7.4 billion, while imports rose 3% to €5 billion. As a result the trade surplus dropped by more than €300m to €2.37 billion.
But final figures for April indicated a strong performance in the first five months of 2007, with exports up 9% on the same period last year. The main factor was a 58% jump in chemicals exports, while drink exports grew by 23%.
Exports to China and Hong Kong rose by 38% in the five-month period, but Japanese exports fell back by 8%. The US market also showed an increase despite the euro's rise against the dollar.
Imports for the first five months were 6% ahead of a year earlier, as imports of transport equipment including planes almost trebled to €1.3 billion. Imports from the US showed the strongest rise of 26%.
