The Irish Exporters Association (IEA) said today that overall performance of Irish exports had been quite robust in 2009 given the  exceptional weakness in world demand. Total Irish exports (goods and services) fell by 1% in 2009 to €154 billion. The strength of the performance of the export sector can be gauged by comparison to the Irish GDP decline of approx 7.8% (source Central Bank) to €163 billion in 2009. The IEA forecasts growth of 2% in 2010. Today's data confirm that the Eurozone is Ireland's main trading partner.

Both merchandise exports and services expanded by 1%.

The IEA said despite the strong overall performance of Ireland’s exports, some categories of exports were severely affected by the recession in international markets.

Sector specific factors will impact on competitiveness of some sectors and will impact negatively on exports and employment for companies trading in these sectors. Broadly the traditional industry sectors with heavy exposure to the UK, such as the food and drink sector will struggle to regain market share in 2010. The computer hardware sector is expected to continue its long-term decline as producers move to lower cost venues.

The IEA said the pharmaceutical, medical devices and bio technology producers are well positioned to show continued growth in 2010. Software and business services which performed well in 2009 are expected to continue their services export growth in 2010.

The outlook for 2010 taking into account the available indicators is for a return to export growth of both goods and services, of the order of 2%, which would see total exports grow by €3 billion to €157 billion.

The industry which spans pharmaceuticals, chemicals, diagnostics, medical devices and biotechnology generates over 60% of our merchandise exports making Ireland the largest net exporter of medicines globally.

When the Life Sciences exports are excluded, all other merchandise exports from Ireland fell by 16% or €6.1 billion in lost export sales.

Service sales to the Eurozone countries accounted for 37% of total services exports in 2009 and fell by 3% in 2009.

Merchandise exports to the Eurozone were up 3% and accounted for 42% of the category.

So the Eurozone is Ireland's biggest trading partner.

Report

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