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| Source: CSO |
Irish merchandise exports fell by 6% in August, relative to July 2009 and imports fell 4% to a new low point for recent years. July 2009 exports declined by 7% relative to June 2009 while imports held steady. On an unadjusted basis, the value of exports in August 2009 was 11% down on August 2008, while the value of imports was down 25%, according to the CSO. Food exports are down 13% in 2009.
Food exports in 2009 fell from €4.1bn to €3.6bn in 2009.
The value of exports in July 2009 was down 4% on July 2008 and the value of imports was down 31%.
Comparison of the preliminary August 2009 to August 2008 data shows drops in imports of Machinery from the EU and China, Manufactured goods from the EU and Fuel from the UK. Chemical exports to the rest of the EU grew while exports of Machinery to the EU and Chemicals to the US fell.
The January-July figures for 2009 when compared with those of 2008 (show that:
- Exports increased from €50.53bn to €51.3bn (+2%) – Medical and pharmaceutical products increased by 23%, Organic chemicals by 16%, Other transport equipment (including aircraft) by 170% and Professional, scientific and controlling apparatus by 11%.
- Computer equipment decreased by 27%, Electrical machinery by 28%, Metalliferous ores by 54% and Industrial machinery by 35%.
- Goods to Belgium increased by 35%, the United States by 16%, Spain by 6% and Bermuda by €119m.
- Goods to Great Britain decreased by 14%, Germany by 19%, Northern Ireland by 22% and the Philippines by 68%.
Imports decreased from €35.47bn to €27.30bn (-23%) –
- Road vehicles decreased by 79%, Computer equipment by 41%, Petroleum products by 40% and Specialised machinery by 54%.
- Other transport equipment (including aircraft) increased by 54%, Power generating machinery by 12%, Professional, scientific and controlling apparatus by 7% and Organic chemicals by 3%.
- Goods from Great Britain decreased by 32%, Germany by 44%, China by 29% and Japan by 50%.
- Goods from the United States increased by 20%, Canada by 21%, India by 23% and Argentina by 55%.
Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII), the IBEC group that represents the Irish food sector, today said that new CSO figures demonstrate the need for the urgent introduction of a state-backed export credit insurance scheme. CSO external trade figures showed a 13.5% decline in food and drink exports for the first seven months of the year compared with the same period in 2008.
FDII Director Paul Kelly said: “Food and drink companies are suffering, with exports from the sector over the full year likely to be €1bn lower than 2008. The weakness of sterling is having a huge impact as 43% of food and drink exports go to the UK.
"While the currency risk cannot be removed, there are measures that the government can take to support exports and help companies develop new markets and customers. The government must move to introduce a state-backed credit insurance scheme. The necessary cover has become unavailable on the private insurance market because of the financial crisis.
"The European Commission has approved measures to allow member states to introduce state-backed schemes to cover financially sound transactions. As a result, many European countries have moved to introduce such schemes to help their exporters. Two key competitors to Ireland, the Netherlands and France, received EU approval for their national schemes earlier this month.
"The absence of a scheme in Ireland puts our exporters at a competitive disadvantage. The food and drink industry is as important to Ireland as the car industry is to Germany. The Government must act now to protect Ireland's most important industry. The sector plays a vital role in the Irish economy, supporting 50,000 jobs directly, 60,000 jobs in distribution and the livelihood of 120,000 farmers.”
SEE: Finfacts article Sept 26, 2009: Ireland: A "smart" economy in food better than pie-in-the-sky aspirations?
SEE: Finfacts article Oct 20, 2009: Germany's Food & Beverage sector star of crisis -- exports up 15% in 2008; Good news continues
We present below the Minister of State's comments on the data because it appears he was commenting on something else.
He focuses on the period to July because the August data is bad.
US owned pharmaceutical and medical device firms' exports account for more than 50% of merchandise exports and production plunged in August.
Batch chemical production is volatile and the sector may show a rebound in the September data.
We at Finfacts are sick of the way export data is spoofed.
Whoever wrote the press release for Billy Kelleher, is either a spinner or an idiot. So exports to the Belgium market have increased?
Belgium is one of Ireland's main export destinations because its one of Europe's principal transit points.
As for the reference to "our Euro area exports," maybe the exports to Spain are from Intel or Microsoft and what has that got to do with Enterprise Ireland's strategy?
Statement:
The Minister for Trade and Commerce, Mr. Billy Kelleher, T.D., commented on the latest trade statistics published by the Central Statistics Office today. While acknowledging that the provisional figures for August 2009 were down on the same month last year, the newly published complete data for the first seven months of this year show that exports were up by 2% on January – July 2008.
There were significant increases in exports of medical and pharmaceutical products and organic chemicals. In addition, sales to the US were up 16% despite the deteriorating exchange rate between the Euro and the US dollar.
Reflecting the continued drive to maintain our Euro area exports, our exports to Belgium and Spain increased significantly.
The significant reduction in imports was especially pronounced in discretionary consumer spending sectors such as motor vehicles and computers and the fall in imports for the year to date, has meant our trade surplus has risen to a very impressive €24 billion for the January-July 2009 period, compared to €15 billion for the same period in 2008 - a 58% increase.
The Minister also welcomed the latest data from the EU’s EUROSTAT agency, which shows Ireland has the second largest trade surplus of the EU Member States for the first seven months of 2009. It is significant that some of the larger economies, such as the UK, France and Spain have very significant trade deficits. The EUROSTAT data also shows that Ireland is the only one of the 27 member states to have positive export growth in the period January-July 2009 when compared to the same period in 2008. In most other Member States, exports fell by over 20%.
Given this overall positive trend, the Minister said “Irish exports continue to be a key factor in contributing to our future economic recovery and the work of my Department and its industrial development agencies will continue to focus on the importance of our exports as a driver to develop our economy. Their focus will not only be on our well established markets such as Canada, where the Tánaiste is leading a trade mission this week, but also the new and emerging countries such as South Africa where I headed a trade mission in September last and the United Arab Emirates which I will be targeting next month”.
The Minister concluded by saying “this focus on trade success will greatly assist in overcoming the wider and very challenging economic climate ahead”.
