Irish exports rise 7% to €13.7bn in January before coronavirus outbreak

The value of Irish goods exports rose by 7 per cent to €13.7 billion in January on foot of big upticks in exports of electrical machinery, medical and pharmaceutical products.

However, this was before the coronavirus outbreak impacted global trade.

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show goods imports fell by 8 per cent to €7.3 billion. This gave rise to a seasonally adjusted trade surplus of €6.4 billion in January.

A breakdown of the figures show exports of electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances increased by 59 per cent to €921 million while exports of medical and pharmaceutical products increased by nearly €700 million (16 per cent) to €5 billion.

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The State’s export trade is dominated by pharmaceuticals, which account for more than 50 per cent of total goods exports because of the strong multinational pharma manufacturing base here.

On the import side, the main drag was imports of other transport equipment, including aircraft, which decreased by €49 per cent to €964 million compared with January 2019.

The monthly trade numbers can be volatile and the global economy has been overtaken by a pandemic since January with experts predicting a downturn in trade of varying degrees as a result.

The latest economic data from China showed factory production plunging at its fastest pace in 30 years. This has triggered fears of a global recession as the pandemic paralyses supply chains and crushes business sentiment.

The European Union accounted for €6.7 billion of total goods exports in January, of which €1.5 billion and €1.4 million went to Belgium and Germany respectively.

The US was the main non-EU destination, accounting for just under €5 billion (34 per cent) of total exports.