Irish exports of food and live animals increased by €52 million (+5%) in September 2020 compared to September 2019, according to preliminary figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) this week.

The general figures show that this year, seasonally-adjusted goods exports decreased by €684 million (-5%) to €13,712 million in September compared with August. 

Seasonally adjusted goods imports decreased by €550 million (-8%) to €6,191 million leading to a decrease of €135 million (-2%) in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus to €7,522 million in September 2020 compared with the previous month.

Exports increased in September

The (unadjusted) value of goods exports for September 2020 was €13,973 million, representing an increase of €1,469 million when compared to September 2019.

Exports of food and live animals increased by €52 million (+5%) to €1,007 million. The table below represents the goods exports classified by commodities, in terms of worth in € millions.

As can be seen in the table above, meat and meat preparations exports increased from €290 million in September 2019 to €355 million in 2020. Dairy products and birds’ eggs exports decreased from €298 million in September 2019 to €267 million in September of this year.

Exports of feeding stuff for animals increased in September 2020, from €29 million in 2019 to €31 million. There was also an increase for the period of January to September 2020, bringing the total to €289 million, compared to €273 million during the same period in 2019.

Imports decreased

The (unadjusted) value of goods imports for September 2020 was €6,275 million, a decrease of €1,052 million (-14%) when compared with September 2019.

The value of goods imports for January to September 2020 was €61,428 million, which is a decrease of €4,557 million (-7%) compared with the first three-quarters of 2019.

Imports of food and live animals increased in September of this year, to €686 million compared to €644 million last year. For January to September 2019, imports of food and live animals was €5,649 million, increasing to €5,771 million during the same period in 2020.

In January to September 2020, imports of live animals increased compared to the same period in 2019, as did dairy products and birds’ eggs, and feeding stuff for animals.

Exports to Great Britain fell slightly in September

Exports to Great Britain decreased by €19 million to €1,072 million in September this year, compared to September 2019. Exports to Great Britain accounted for 8% of the total value of exports.

The value of goods exports to Great Britain in the first nine months of 2020 was €8,941 million, a decrease of €1,085 million (-11%) compared with January to September of 2019.

Imports from Great Britain in September 2020 decreased by €48 million (-3%) to €1,451 million compared to September 2019. Imports from Great Britain were 23% of the value of total imports in September 2020.

The value of goods imports from Great Britain for January to September 2020 was €12,771 million, a decrease of €683 million (-5%) compared with the first three-quarters of 2019 (see Table 4).

The EU accounted for €5,586 million (40%) of total goods exports in September 2020, of which €1,886 million went to Germany and €1,193 million went to Belgium.

The USA was the main non-EU destination accounting for €4,625 million (33%) of total exports in September 2020.

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