‘Amazingly strong’ year for exports

Irish exports enjoyed “an amazingly strong year” in 2012, growing by 5%, or twice the world trade average.

The Irish Exporters’ Association (IEA) said the showing — export value surging by €9bn to reach a record high of €183bn — shows a strong return to competitiveness in many of the country’s businesses; although the services sector — with an 11% increase — drove export growth, with no growth evident in the area of manufactured goods exported.

Ireland consolidated its position as ninth largest global exporter of services during 2012. The country has also grown exports by €28bn since the economic crash of 2007.

The IEA now expects further export growth of 5% this year and 7% in 2014.

“Ireland is now seen as the prime location in Europe for high-tech mobile, internet and social media technology companies. There is no doubt there is a direct link between the increased success in this sector and our increased competitiveness — which, if maintained, will enable significant long-term jobs growth,” said IEA chief executive John Whelan.

However, Mr Whelan struck a note of caution over the low level of Irish trade with developing non-EU countries, saying 20% of the world’s growth will come from outside of the EU within the next 10 years. Currently, only 4% of Irish exports go to the so-called BRIC nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

“The Government must expand its efforts to support Irish exporters in the emerging markets, with more trade missions and more embassies with more commercial support staff from Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia and IDA Ireland on the ground in these markets. There is no low-cost silver bullet to expand in these markets. We must all put in the hard miles and shift our resources accordingly if we are to keep the export growth going in the long term,” he said.

The IEA is also calling on the Government to do more to safeguard Ireland against any potential break-up of the eurozone, saying it needs to devise “a disaster recovery plan” dealing with the likes of Greece possibly exiting the eurozone and creating “major tidal waves of instability”.

Within the EU, Ireland saw significant export falls in four key markets — France, Italy, Portugal and Spain — last year.