Aircraft leasing transactions lead to jump in Irish imports

Several large aircraft leasing transactions saw the value of Irish goods imports jump by nearly 10 per cent to €8.5 billion in September. This saw the State’s trade surplus, the value of exports over imports, fall by 18 per cent to just under €3 billion.

While the monthly trade numbers can be volatile, the underlying trends remain positive.

The latest figures show imports of “other transport equipment”, which includes aircraft, increased by €919 million to €2.4 billion. This accounted for more than half of the jump in imports.

Ireland is a global hub for aircraft leasing, with approximately 4,000 commercial aircraft leased through companies here, representing a total value of $115 billion. Recent changes to accounting conventions mean the purchases of aircraft are included as imports in the national accounts compiled by the Central Statistics Office.

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The latest trade figures also show imports of medical and pharmaceutical products increased by €508 million or 82 per cent to €1.1 billion, while imports of office machines and automatic data-processing machines also rose.

The value of exports rose by 1 per cent to €11.5 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The value of goods exports for the period January to September 2018 was €103 billion, an increase of €11.2 billion when compared with the first nine months of 2017.

The biggest category of goods exports in September was medical and pharmaceutical products. Exports of these goods accounted for a third (33 per cent ) of total goods exports.

Exports of medical and pharmaceutical products increased by €854 million (29 per cent) to €3.7 billion in September.