Ireland’s €32.4bn trade surplus third highest in EU
By Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent
Saturday, December 17, 2011
IRELAND had the third highest trade surplus in the EU for the first nine months of the year at €32.4 billion — worth a third of the value of the Germany surplus.
The German surplus was €117.9bn and that for the Netherlands was €32.8bn.
However, at 4% the growth of Irish exports was the smallest growth of the EU 27, while the growth in imports was the third smallest at 6%.
The first estimate for euro area trade with the rest of the world in October gave a €1.1bn surplus, down from €3.1bn in October last year.
The EU 27 showed a deficit of €13.9bn.
The biggest deficits were registered by Britain at €88.1bn for January to September, followed by France (€65.8bn), Spain (€36.7bn), Italy (€23.1bn), Greece (€13.2bn) and Portugal (€12.4bn).
EU trade grew with all its major partners in the nine months up September compared to the same period in 2010, with exports to Russia up almost 30%, Turkey up 26%, China 21%, and India 20%.
The trade surplus with the US increased slightly from €52.4bn to €55.1bn over the nine months and it also increased with Russia and Norway.
The deficit fell with China, Japan, and South Korea.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, December 17, 2011
