More than half of Irish firms impacted by Brexit red tape

CSO Global Value Chain participation survey details number of firms sourcing inputs from abroad

Companies searching for seamless supply chains will probably have to look beyond Britain in future
Companies searching for seamless supply chains will probably have to look beyond Britain in future

Brexit-related regulatory burdens impacted more than half of medium-sized businesses in the Republic in 2020, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The agency’s latest Global Value Chain participation survey found that 54 per cent of businesses here with 50 or more employees were hit by new regulations arising from the UK’s EU exit.

Despite the red tape, the UK remained the most popular location for Irish businesses for both global purchasing and supplying of goods/materials and services.

Two in five (40 per cent) enterprises, meanwhile, confirmed they had difficulties sourcing raw materials or intermediate products from suppliers abroad due to Covid-19.

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More businesses (47 per cent) purchased goods/materials from suppliers abroad than supplied to enterprises overseas (24 per cent), the survey found indicated.

Raw materials (21 per cent) and machinery and other technical equipment (20 per cent) used in a firm’s production were the most common purchases from abroad.

“In a highly globalised economy, enterprises increasingly organise the production process into smaller activities located across different countries to bring goods and services to market,” the CSO said.

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Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times