Tuesday, June 7, 2011

07/06/2011: Irish Trade in Goods & Services

Having completed a new dataset on Irish trade - for both Goods and Services - here's the latest data we have.

Please, note, CSO does not report monthly stats for trade in services, which form a significant share of our exports and influence our trade balance and current account. Instead, CSO's monthly series make a claim about 'trade' without explicitly identifying that this 'trade' only covers goods. That identification, instead is buried in the 'fine print' methodology pages.

Ok, to the numbers. Given the vast size of Irish economy, the latest data on overall trade we have comes from QNA and covers Q4 2010. By the end of Q4 2010:
  • Exports from Ireland stood at €40.073bn, down 1.35% qoq and up 11.67% yoy. Annual increase in Q4 2010 was €4.187bn, making Q4 2010 the highest level of exports in Q4 of any year since 1997.
  • Lowest level of exports during the current cycle (since 2007) was reached in Q3 2009, implying that growth in exports returned in Q4 2009. Highest level of exports were reached in Q 3 2010.
  • Imports stood at €34.546bn, up 8% qoq and 12.99% yoy
  • Trade balance as of the end of Q4 2010 was a positive €5.527bn, down 35.98% qoq and up 4.05% yoy (+€215mln).
  • Ireland's quarterly trade balance bottomed out in Q1 2008 and grew since then, peaking at €8.633bn in Q3 2010.
Charts below illustrate:

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