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| Source: CSO |
The CSO reported today that Irish exports of merchandise trade for the year 2007 were €88,581m, up 2% on 2006.
This rise was due to Organic chemicals and Pharmaceuticals. Excluding these categories exports actually fell by 2%. Imports for 2007 were €62,179m, up 2% on 2006. This increase was due to Transport equipment - aircraft deliveries. If this sector is excluded, imports were flat.
In December 2007 the value of exports was €6,116m, down €1,048m (-15%) on December 2006, while imports were €5,017m, down €351m (-7%). On a seasonally adjusted basis the value of exports in December 2007 was €6,310m, 14% down on November 2007, while imports were €4,970m, down 11%.
Preliminary estimates for January 2008 show exports of €6,958m and imports of €5,328m. The corresponding seasonally adjusted values for January 2008 are €7,198m for exports and €5,175m for imports.
Comparing the 2007 figures with those of 2006 shows that :
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Exports of Organic chemicals increased from €17,059m to €19,427m (+14%), Eggs and dairy products from €1,195m to €1,436m (+20%) and General industrial machinery from €1,216m to €1,449m (+19%).
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Exports of Computer equipment decreased from €14,063m to €12,533m (-11%).
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Exports of goods to China and Hong Kong increased from €1,498m to €1,950m (+30%), to the Philippines from €424m to €709m (+67%) and to Switzerland from €2,516m to €3,248m (+29%).
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Goods to the United States decreased from €16,182m to €15,779m (-2%) (in $ terms this represented a 9.5% increase) and to Italy from €3,613m to €3,125m (-14%).
- Imports of Other transport equipment (including aviation equipment) increased from €1,452m to €2,564m (+77%), Petroleum and related materials from €3,842m to €4,055m (+6%), Iron and steel from €911m to €1,080m (+18%) and Road vehicles from €4,102m to €4,382m (+7%).
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Computer equipment decreased from €10,452m to €9,233m (-12%).
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Imports of goods from China and Hong Kong increased from €4,768m to €5,148m (+8%), France from €2,219m to €2,616m (+18%), Germany from €5,012m to €5,399m (+8%) and Great Britain from €18,099m to €18,704m (+3%).
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Goods from Singapore decreased from €1,218m to €838m (-31%) and Norway from €1,857m to €1,425m (-23%).
IBEC the business lobby group said that despite the currency difficulties and the weakness of the US economy, Ireland has opportunities to build upon the very strong performance it achieved in trading with emerging economies last year. IBEC, said that new trade figures from the CSO today , highlight the benefit of exporters targeting new emerging markets, particularly given the current challenging trading environment in both the US and UK.
But IBEC appears to believe that the marketing decisions of the likes of Intel, Microsoft, Dell and HP are made in Ireland.
IBEC is simply wrong.
IBEC Head of Trade and International Relations Pat Ivory said: “The Euro has gained almost 20% on the dollar and 15% on Sterling over the last twelve months: 2008 will be a very tough year for Irish exporters coping with these currency difficulties and a US recession. However, large emerging economies and new markets in the EU offer substantial trade opportunities.”
Exports to six rapidly growing economies, targeted through Government lead trade missions and the setting up and strengthening of Enterprise Ireland offices, recorded very strong growth rates. Irish goods exported to the key emerging markets of China, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil were up 21.8%, worth €3.6 billion, equivalent to 4% of total Irish exports. These six emerging economies with 2.9 billion people, 44.6% of world population, offer enormous potential for further Irish export growth. Our exports to China (including Hong Kong) alone reached €1.95 billion in 2007, a dramatic 30% increase on 2006.
Ivory continued: “A further encouraging trend in today’s data is the increase in our exports of goods to the new EU member states, up 19.3% and now worth €1.6 billion or nearly 2% of the value of total exports in 2007. This reflects strong double-digit retail sales growth in a number of these countries, for example in Poland the volume of retail trade was up over 12% per month during the second half of 2007. Exports to these countries will be less impacted by currency difficulties.
“The combined dramatic 21% growth in the export of goods to these two groups in 2007 - emerging economies and new EU member states - is very significant given our overall export growth of just 2%. The huge potential for further exports growth in all these new markets could significantly reduce our high dependence on the US and UK. If the 2007 trend were to continue to 2012, annual Irish exports to these new emerging and EU markets could be worth over €13 billion or around 13.5% of our total exports. It is vital therefore that the Government, state agencies and the EU Commission do everything in their power to further open up these important new markets to Irish exports”.
The EU accounted for 63.4% of total Irish goods exports in 2007, or €56 billion worth of goods, up 1.9% on 2006. The Euro Zone accounted for 41% or €36.3 billion of goods exports in 2007, while the UK accounted for 18.7% or €16.6 billion. The value of exports to the US, declined to €15.8 billion or 17.8% of total exports in 2007, a drop of 2.5% on 2006.
Finfacts Comment: Here we go again! It would be impossible to discern from these comments that more than 90% of Irish exports are made by foreign-owned firms in Ireland and decisions regarding the destination of the output of the Irish operations, are generally made elsewhere.
This delusion has one simple result. It obscures the challenges faced by indigenous Irish companies in overseas markets.
