Exports reach 10-year high of €92bn

The value of Irish goods exports hit a 10-year high of €92bn, in 2012, according to provisional end-of-year data from the CSO.

The figure also marks a near 1% increase on 2011’s total value of just under €91.3bn. Last year’s 1.5% increase in import value — to just over €49bn — resulted in a slender 0.2% rise in Ireland’s overall annual trade surplus for 2012, to €42.98bn.

However, the new figures also showed a fall in export value — from €8.1bn to €6.8bn — and a decline in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus, from €4.3bn to just over €3bn between November and December.