Exports suffer December slump
15 February 2012 11:33
There was an decrease in exports in the month of December, according to provisional figures released today by the Central Statistics Office.
From a November high of €8.25 billion, seasonally adjusted exports decreased by 9% to €7.5billion in December. Imports increased by 8% to €4.02 billion resulting in a drop in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus of over €1 billion or 23%.
According to the figures a substantial part of the decline in value of exports was due to a high value product in the chemical sector coming off patent in December.
The figures released by the CSO also compare the first 11 months of last year with figures with the same period in 2010 revealing a 5% increase in exports to €85.74 billion.
The biggest increases occurred in exports of medical and pharmaceutical products which were up by 11% or €2.57 billion and organic chemicals which increased by 8% or €1.46 billion.
Imports increased by 6% to €44.14 billion in the year to November with a 14% increase in exports from the UK and a 13% increase in imports from Germany, nearly one-third of Ireland's imports come from the UK according to the figures.
