Ireland’s unadjusted goods exports in June of this year totalled €17.5 billion, €2.8 billion higher than the same month in 2021, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) have shown.
Data released from the CSO has shown that the figure increased significantly over the course of a year, jumping by 19% from €14.7 billion in June 2021 to €17.5 billion in June 2022.
While industrial produce accounted for 92% of total exports in June 2022, agricultural produce followed this, accounting for 6% or €1.1 billion worth.
A breakdown of the data shows that Ireland exported €1.1 billion worth of meat and dairy products in the first six months of this year, which represents a 30% increase in the figure for the same period in 2021.
From January to June this year, €533 million worth of ‘meat and meat preparations’ was exported, while ‘dairy products and bird eggs’ totalled €519 million. These figures are up on last year, when they were €401 million and €398 million respectively.
Significant rises were also noted in the ‘cereals and cereal preparations’ category, where exports between January and June 2022 were €793 million, compared to €558 million in the same period last year.
Fruit and vegetable exports also increased by 12% year-on-year and totalled €697 million in the first six months of this year.
Commenting on the figures, senior statistician in the CSO’s international trade in goods division Orla McCarthy said:
“The main driver of increases in exports of goods was ‘chemicals and related products’.
“On the imports side there were significant increases in imports of both ‘mineral fuels’ and ‘chemicals and related products’.”
According to the CSO’s figures, unadjusted imports in June of 2022 totalled €12,699 million, which marked a 28% increase on the figure for the same month in 2021. Over the course of this year, Ireland’s imports from Great Britain increased significantly, by €761 million.