Non-EU exports fall by almost €1bn after hitting all time high, says CSO

Conor Keane,

Exports to non-EU countries hit an all time high of 3.487bn in May but fell by 943 million in June when we exported 2.544bn, figures released by the Central Statistics Office showed yesterday.

However, NCB chief economist Dermot O'Brien said the massive decline in exports seemed to be a once-off the from the high achieved in May and said timing and other factors could be at play.

Mr O'Brien pointed out that the seasonally adjusted figures of 2.54bn in June was just marginally behind the 2.55bn exported to non-EU countries in April.

He said the June figures while lower that any of the previous 18 months were still not far from the average in the series.

"We will have to see what happens in the July figures before anyone starts panicking," he said.

Imports from non-EU countries also declined from May to June dropping from 1.67bn in May to 1.45bn, down 13.3% in a month.

Mr O'Brien said the fall in imports could also have a knock-on effect on exports as many multinationals import raw materials for processing in Ireland prior to export as finished products.

The single biggest drop in exports from May to June came in the "organic chemicals" category, which fell from 1.27bn in May to 688.3 million in June, a drop of 584 million (46%).

The CSO said "organic chemicals" covered a wide variety of goods and it was unable to single out any particular generic products which contributed to the decline.

Imports in the "organic chemicals" category fell from 247m in May to 119m in June.

Results from the ongoing series show that when comparing January-June 2002 with the corresponding period in 2001, exports fell from 17.63bn to 17.37bn, down 1%. Exports of electrical machinery decreased from 2.552bn to 1.633bn, down 36%. Exports of computers decreased from 3.251bn to 2.956bn, down 9%. However, exports of medical and pharmaceutical products increased from 1.062bn to 1.727bn, up 63%.

Exports to Japan decreased from 1.767bn to 1.389bn, down 21%, and exports to the Philippines decreased from 547m to 193m, down 65%.

Exports to Switzerland increased from 1.23bn to 1.698bn, up 38%, and exports to Saudi Arabia increased from 211m to 560m, up 165%.

Imports decreased from 11.08bn to 9.895bn, down 11%. This drop in imports was largely attributable to computers, telecommunications, sound equipment and electrical machinery.

Computers alone decreased from 2.774bn to 2.214bn, down 20% decline.