The value of food and live animal exports stood at almost €1.4 billion in June 2023, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said.
This is a decrease of 5% or €67 million when compared to the same month last year when such exports were valued at over €1.4 billion.
Almost €7.2 billion worth of food and live animals were exported from Ireland in the first six months of the year, up from €6.8 billion in the same period in 2022.
Exports of meat and meat preparations were valued at almost €2.3 billion in the first half of 2023, while dairy products and eggs worth €1.9 billion were sent from the country.
Just over €2.5 billion worth of food and live animals have been exported to other EU member states in the first half of this year.
The value of such exports to Britain was €1.9 billion, Northern Ireland was €861 million, the US was €386 million, China is €296 million and the rest of the world was almost €1.2 billion.
Imports
The CSO data shows that the value of food and live animal imports rose from almost €799 million in June 2022 to €836 million a year later.
The value of these imports in the first half of this year was €4.9 billion, up from almost €4.5 billion between January and June 2022.
Imports of vegetables and fruit were valued at €815 million up to the end of June, while cereals and cereal preparation imports were €804 million.
Dairy and egg imports in the first half of 2023 were valued at €562 million, while meat and meat preparation imports were €572 million.
Just over €2 billion worth of food and live animals were imported from other EU member states in the first six months of 2023.
The value of such imports from Britain was €1.1 billion, €683 million from Northern Ireland and €831 million from the rest of the world.
CSO
Commenting on the data, Ciarán Counihan, statistician in the international trade in the CSO goods division said:
“In June 2023, Ireland’s unadjusted exports of goods increased by €1.8 billion to €19.5 billion compared with June 2022.
“When seasonally adjusted, exports of goods grew by more than €2.4 billion compared with May 2023.
“The unadjusted imports for June 2023 were valued at €12.3 billion, down by €500 million on June 2022. Seasonally adjusted imports were €11.6 billion in June 2023,” he said.
“Comparing the first half of 2023 with the same period in 2022, exports of goods were down 3%, and the value of imports increased by 2%. Exports for the first six months of 2023 were more than €102 billion.
“Imports from Great Britain fell by 20% to €1.7 billion in June 2023 compared with June 2022, and the largest decrease was in the imports of chemicals and related products which fell by 41%.
“Exports to Great Britain grew by 19% to €2.3 billion in June 2023 from June 2022,” Counihan added.