Cross-border trade in goods with Northern Ireland continued to sharply increase in the first eight months of the year, according to the latest export and import figures from the Central Statistics Office.
From January to August, exports to Northern Ireland grew by 47% compared to the same eight month period in 2020, from €1.516 billion to €2.223 billion.
Imports from Northern Ireland grew even more steeply by 61% from €1.553 billion to €2.5 billion over the same time.
The CSO also said that exports to Great Britain increased from January to August by 21%, from €7.59 billion last year to €9.193 billion in the same period this year.
Imports from GB, however, decreased by 30% over the same period from €10.451 billion to €7.272 billion.
In August 2021, Great Britain accounted for 7% of our exports and 13% of our imports. Northern Ireland accounted for 2% of our exports and 5% of our imports, the CSO figures show.
Today's preliminary figures from the Central Statistics Office show that seasonally adjusted goods exports overall increased by 5% to €13.894 billion in August compared with the previous month.
The CSO said that seasonally adjusted goods imports increased by 2% to €8.232 billion, which resulted in a 10% increase in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus to €5.661 billion in August from July.
Today's CSO figures show that exports increased by over €160m in August of this year compared to the same time last year.
The unadjusted value of goods exports for August came to €13.097 billion, a 1% increase on August 2020.
Exports of Electrical machinery, appliances and parts increased by 39% to €1.027 billion in August compared to the same month last year, while exports of Professional, scientific and controlling apparatus increased by 35% to €574 and exports of Food and live animals increased by 14% to €993m.
But exports of Organic chemicals decreased by 19% to €1.952 billion, while exports of Medical and pharmaceutical products dropped by 9% to €4.931 billion over the same time.
Meanwhile, the unadjusted value of goods imports for August of this year fell by 20% to €7.193 billion compared to the same time last year.
Imports of Electrical machinery, appliances and parts soared by 247% to just over €1 billion, while imports of Petroleum increased by 43% to €282m.
The CSO also said that imports of Organic chemicals decreased by 56% to €248m in August of this year compared to August last year.
The figures also reveal that the EU accounted for €4.868 billion (37%) of total goods exports in August of which €1.642 billion went to Germany while just over €1 billion went to Belgium. Total EU exports in August fell by 6% compared with last year.
The US was the main non-EU destination accounting for €4.150 billion (32%) of total exports in August.
Meanwhile, the EU accounted for €2.019 billion (28%) of total goods imports in August, down 8% on last year.
The UK with 18%, the US with 17% and China with 9% were the main non-EU sources of imports, the CSO added.
