Exports in first five months of 2015 are up 18% to €44 billion on same period last year, the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
Goods exports were up 8% year-on-year to €8.8 billion with the main driver of the increase a rise in the value of exports of medical and pharmaceutical products (+30%), it says.
The CSO says that exports in May to the US, Ireland’s single biggest export market increased by 29% in May 2015, while in Europe, exports to Belgium increased by 16% on last year.
There was a 12% increase in exports to the Netherlands, an 11% increase to Germany and exports to the UK were up 7% from May 2014, it says.
Exports of Irish dairy products and birds eggs in January to May 2015 were down 6.1% to €677m from the same period last year, the CSO says.
Exports of meat and meat preparations from January to May this year were up 6% to €1,392m year-on-year, CSO figures show.
CSO figures show that year-on-year for the first five months of the year for cereals and for vegetables and fruit both increased by 13.4%.
Feeding stuff for animals, the CSO says, increased 28% to €128m compared to the same period last year.
Imports
In the first five months of 2015, compared to the corresponding period last year imports of dairy products and birds eggs decreased by 13.6%, CSO figures show.
Imports of meat were up 8.5% to €380m year-on-year while cereals saw a decrease from last year by 1.5% to €394m, it says.
Vegetable and fruit imports were up on last year by 1.1% to €448m while imports of feeding stuff for animals was down 1.4% year-on-year, CSO figures show.