Preliminary figures from the Irish Central Statistics Office for June 2015 show seasonally adjusted exports remained relatively unchanged at €9.01 billion ($10.03 billion) compared to the previous month, RTE reported.
However, seasonally adjusted imports for June decreased by €213 million (-4%) to €4.99 billion, leading to an increase of €230 million (+6%) in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus to €4.1 billion ($4.5 billion) in June.
The unadjusted value of exports for June was €9.65 billion, representing an increase of €1.6 billion (+19%) when compared with June of last year.
The main driver behind the June increase was the rise in the exports of medical and pharmaceutical products by €590 million (+31%) to €2.5 billion, while exports of machinery and transport equipment increased by €352 million (+36%) to €1.3 billion during the month.
The EU accounted for €5.62 billion (58%) of total Irish exports in June, of which €1.49 billion (15%) went to Belgium and €1.21 billion (13%) to Great Britain.
The USA was the main non-EU destination, accounting for €1.88 billion (20%) of total exports in June.
Meanwhile, the unadjusted value of imports for June was €5.08 billion representing an increase of €249 million (+5%) when compared with June 2014.
During June 2015, imports of medical and pharmaceutical products increased by €254 million (+73%) to €604 million.
Imports Lower
Imports of other transport equipment, including aircraft, into Ireland fell by €327 million (-50%) and imports of petroleum fell by €140 million (-34%) in June compared with the same period of last year.
The value of imports for June excluding other transport equipment, including aircraft was €4.75 billion–an increase of €576 million (+14%) when compared with the corresponding period of 2014 figure of €4.12 billion.
The EU accounted for 61% of the value of imports in June, with €1.33 billion (26%) of total imports coming from Great Britain.
The USA with €707 million and China with €347 million were the main non-EU sources of imports.
CAPTION
Exports of medical and pharmaceutical products increased in June.
