Firms ‘slow to profit from trade with new EU members’

IRISH companies have been slow to take advantage of opportunities thrown up by EU enlargement, according to new trade figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The CSO said yesterday that Ireland’s external trade slowed during March and that fall-offs were recorded in both imports and exports. Exports of merchandise in the first three months of the year were 1% lower than in the same period last year, but imports were ahead by 9% for the quarter as a whole, despite falling in March.

Total exports in March were 4% lower than in February at €6.8bn. Meanwhile, total imports were 8% lower month-on-month at €4.1bn.