The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said that food and live animal exports were worth an estimated €14.8 billion in 2022.
This is an increase of a fifth compared to the previous year when the value of such exports was €12.1 billion.
During 2022, the CSO estimated that over €4.7 billion worth of meat and meat preparations were exported, up from just over €4 billion in 2021.
The value of exports of dairy products and eggs stood at €4.5 billion, compared to €3.2 billion in the previous year.
Cereal and cereal preparations exports stood at almost €700 million in 2022, live animal exports were €591 million and fruit and vegetables exports were €378 million.
CSO
According to the data published today (Wednesday, February 15), the first CSO estimates for 2022 show that overall exports were valued at a record €208 billion, an increase of more than €42 billion compared with 2021.
The export of chemical and related products was worth almost €134 billion, which jumped from €102.6 billion in 2021.
Imports were valued at €140 billion, up 35% compared on the previous year.
Exports to Britain rose from €14.4 billion in 2021 to €17.1 billion last year, with food and live animal exports to Britain worth €3.8 billion.
Exports to Northern Ireland were valued at €4.9 billion, up from €3.7 billion. Food and live animals exports to Northern Ireland were valued at €1.6 billion.
Imports from Britain increased by 55% to €24 billion in 2022, while imports from Northern Ireland grew by a third to €5.3 billion.
The value of exports to the 27 EU member states rose from €61.6 billion to €80.6 billion.
Exports to the US stood at €63 billion, up from €52.5 billion in 2021.
Commenting on the data for December 2022, which was also published today, Ciarán Counihan, statistician in the CSO international trade in goods division, said:
“In December 2022, Ireland’s unadjusted exports of goods increased by €1.7 billion to €14.8 billion compared with December 2021.
“When seasonally adjusted, exports of goods rose by €575 million when compared with November 2022.
“The unadjusted imports for December 2022 were valued at €11.4 billion, a growth of €225 million on December 2021. Seasonally adjusted imports were €10.4 billion in December 2022.
“Imports from Great Britain fell by 10% to €1.7 billion in December 2022 compared with December 2021,” Counihan added.
Exports of food and live animals were up by €152 million or 14% to €1.2 billion in December 2022 compared with December 2021.