Irish exports increase 17% in July as US sales continue to surge

For the first seven months of the year, goods exports have increased by €9.5bn to €126bn. Goods imports, meanwhile, rose €400m in July compared with the same month in 2023 but are down €5bn for the year to date.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, exports were worth €17.8bn in July, an increase of €760m year-on-year.

"In July 2024, Ireland’s unadjusted exports of goods rose by €2.7bn to €18.3 billion compared with July 2023. When seasonally adjusted, exports of goods grew by €760m when compared with June 2024," said Ciarán Counihan, a statistician in the international trade in goods division of the CSO.

"The unadjusted imports for July 2024 were valued at €11.3bn, up more than €400m on July 2023. Seasonally adjusted imports were €11.7bn in July 2024."

Of the €18.3bn in goods exported in July, €7.1bn went to EU countries, an increase of €571m or 9% from last July, €5.8bn went to the US (+€1.7bn or 43%), €3.7bn to the rest of the world (+€897m or 32%), €1.3bn to Britain (-€512 or 28%) and €409m to Northern Ireland (+€20m or 5%).

Furthermore, of the €126.2bn exported from January to July, the EU accounted for 49.2bn (+€880m or 2%), the US €39.6bn (+€8bn or 25%), the rest of the world €24.9bn (+€2.2bn or 10%), Britain €9.6bn (-1.7 or 15%) and Northern Ireland €2.9bn (€146m or 5%).

Janette Maxwell, director of tax at Grant Thornton, said the surge in US exports, which now make up more than 30% of the value of Irish exports, reflects a number of factors, including an increased specialization in the production of goods for which international demand is growing strongly and also generally favorable competitiveness developments.

Exports of organic chemicals increased €608m or 37% to €2.3bn in July compared to a year earlier, and exports of machinery, apparatus & appliances grew by €344m or 56% to €957m. Exports of professional, scientific & controlling apparatus increased by €712m (+90%) to €1.5bn.

On the imports front, the rest of the EU was the biggest seller to Ireland at nearly €4bn, representing an increase of €181m or 5% from last July, just ahead of the rest of the world €3.5bn.

The US accounted for more than €2bn of Irish imports, up €519m or 34% year-on-year, while sales from Britain fell €254m or 15% to €1.4bn and Northern Irish imports were static at €402m.

For the year so far, Irish imports of €76bn represented a decline of €5bn or 6% from the same period in 2024.

The EU made up the biggest share at €27.9bn, down €442 or 2%, while imports from the rest of the world (€22.1bn) dropped €2.3bn or 10% as US imports (€13bn) rose €954m or 8%.

Imports from Britain dropped by some a quarter (-€3.3bn) to €9.9bn but Northern Irish imports have risen by €78m or 3% this year to €31bn.

Imports of organic chemicals collapsed by 83% from €1.7bn to €350m, but imports of food & live animals (up €131m or 17% to €902m), other transport equipment (+€467m or 41% to €1.6bn) and office machines & automatic data processing machines (+€322m or 80% to €723m) all increased year-on-year.

* This article was originally published on Business Plus.